Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wan to put on the record of the House that the Government has been advised by EirGrid and the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, that the system outlook for energy supply for this winter is similar to last winter. There will be periods when the margin between supply and demand will be very tight. We think that is particularly going to be the case over the course of the next week or two because temperatures will be very cold and the wind will not be very strong. For that reason, demand for electricity will be high but generating capacity will be stretched. I want to state clearly that we did come close to an amber alert in the past couple of days. We have not had one since August, although that may well happen. An amber alert means that there is enough electricity available. It is when there is a red alert that we get into a different scenario. That has not happened yet. We cannot guarantee that it is not going to happen. If we get to the point where there is a red alert, and the demand for electricity outstretches the amount we can generate, the first port of call will be to power down the large energy users, which are the data centres that have their own backup electricity. That is not the problem. We are not going to have a situation whereby the first call is on homes, farms or small businesses. That would be way down the line. I want to reassure people that while the likelihood of brownouts or blackouts affecting homes, farms or small businesses cannot be ruled out, they are highly unlikely because n the unlikely event that we are short of power, it will be the large energy users, such as the data centres, that will be instructed to turn on their own generating capacity, which they have and have to have. I want to make that very clear to people and, hopefully, give them some degree of reassurance about power supply over the winter period.

In terms of the cost of electricity, the Government is here to help. People have received the first €200 of their bill in the form of the energy credit. There are two more instalments of that to come between now and the end of the winter. As the Deputy will be aware, we have reduced VAT on electricity and gas to 9%, the lowest it has ever been. We have introduced increases in welfare payments that people will have received over the past couple of weeks, and applications are now open for the fuel allowance. Many more people, particularly older people on low incomes, will qualify for the fuel allowance from January. We reckon 70,000 to 80,000 people will qualify for that. Applications are open, and paper applications will be open shortly. We very much encourage people to apply for that because if they are pensioners, for example, they will get the extra €12 a week from January and they will also potentially qualify for the fuel allowance for the first time. That is a further twenty-something euro a week. We would really encourage people to apply for that. Of course, other interventions are available, such as, for example, exceptional needs payments.

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