Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that:

— unsustainably high energy bills continue to put workers and families under significant financial pressure;

— average gas and electricity bills have more than doubled over the past two years;

— recent figures from the Economic and Social Research Institute estimate that the share of households in energy poverty has increased to 29 per cent, a record high;

— the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Ireland launched a report this week which confirms the number of households unable to heat their homes more than doubled in 2022;

— the Government demonstrated zero foresight and a complete inability to plan for the very predictable increase to prices when they refused to reduce and cap electricity prices, having been called on by Sinn Féin to do so, despite many governments across Europe having the wisdom to do just that e.g., Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and elsewhere; and

— the reluctance from the Government to introduce a windfall tax has served to protect the excessive profits of energy companies;

condemns:

— the fact that the most recent budget designed by then Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD, left workers and families with no certainty in respect of rising energy costs and bills;

— the decision of the Government last month to leave households with no meaningful relief or support from now on for their electricity bills, which remain unsustainably high;

— the position taken by the Government and Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamonn Ryan TD, in resisting fundamental reform of the European energy market in October 2021, and until as recently as September 2022, which served to further protect the excessive profits of energy companies and leave households at the mercy of the markets;

— the position taken by the Government and then Minister for Finance in opposing windfall taxes on the excess profits of energy companies until as recently as August 2022, which served to further protect the excessive profits of energy companies; and

— the rip-off of Irish consumers at the direction of the then Green Party Minister, Eamon Ryan TD, and his Fianna Fáil Government colleagues since 2009, via the large energy user rebalancing subvention, which favoured big business at the expense of domestic bill payers; and

calls on the Government to:

— provide financial relief and certainty to households by reducing electricity prices for households to their pre-Ukraine War levels of June 2021, and capping them at that level; and

— introduce an energy windfall tax on the excess profits of large energy companies without any further delay.

In recent weeks, households have received energy bills through their doors that have caused shock and worry for people. A person from Tipperary who is on a modest income contacted me after receiving an electricity bill amounting to €622. She said that she cannot cope any more. She has cut her energy use by as much as she can and, to use her own words, she says that she sits in the dark most of the day to keep the lights off. That is the reality under this Government. The woman in question says that she is barely keeping her head above water. Another person who contacted me received an electricity bill for €1,100 in January. We have heard of Úna Ní Chonaire Fulham, who received a bill for €2,285 for a period of 71 days. Last week, one of my colleagues, Deputy Guirke, raised the case of Kitty from Trim, who is over 100 years old and who received an electricity bill for nearly €1,000 for a period of less than two months. That is what is happening in the real world. Energy prices are crippling household finances. They are driving households into energy poverty, hardship and despair. Over the past two years, electricity prices have doubled. Workers and families are trying their best to manage their finances and make the numbers add up but there comes a point where there is nothing left to cut and no more room to manoeuvre. People have reached that point.

Last week, Electric Ireland announced that it would reduce electricity prices by 10% but only for some of its business customers. For households, there was nothing. They, and those who are with other suppliers, continue to pay sky-high energy bills that are causing serious hardship and draining the incomes of all households. The Government made a decision last month not to provide any meaningful support to households with their energy bills until October at the earliest. That was wrong. The consequences of that decision will be dire but they will not be suffered by those on the Government benches but by people who are struggling to pay the bills and keep the lights on.

Much of the Government's justification for refusing to provide any meaningful support for households with their energy costs is that we are entering the summer months. However, if the Minister does not already know, he can read Central Statistics Office publications that will tell him very clearly that households consume as much electricity, if not more, in the months of April, May and June as they do in the months of October, November and December.

The only measure to support families the Government can point to in last month's announcement is the extension of the reduced VAT rate on electricity to the end of October. That will benefit the average Electric Ireland customer by €54 between now and then. That is less than €7 per month. Households continue to face extortionate electricity bills without any meaningful support and there is no further intervention by Government. That is simply wrong. The Minister cannot abandon these families in this way. He must respond to Kitty and to all of the other individuals who are afraid of their lives to see these types of bills coming through their letter boxes.

The wholesale price of energy has dropped over recent months. It is outrageous that energy companies are not passing on these reductions to their customers in full and that so many of them are set to enjoy massive profits on the back of these household hardships.

In many ways, the Government has facilitated, even defended, profiteering by energy companies during this crisis. It is apt that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is sitting opposite us today because he is the person who opposed reforms of the wholesale electricity market that would have cut company profits and reduced household bills. The Minister signed a joint statement with others in October 2021 opposing "any measure that conflicts with the internal gas and electricity market". For months, the Minister's colleague, then Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, opposed taxing the windfall profits that energy companies were making on the back of this crisis and said, it would be "the wrong direction to go." He said it would undermine tax certainty in the energy sector. The then Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, deliberately took the side of the big energy companies which were fleecing people and, like the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, abandoned ordinary people being fleeced in terms of high energy prices. It was under pressure from EU countries that the Government was forced to do a U-turn on both of these issues but its instinct to protect the profit margins of energy companies at the expense of struggling households was revealed.

The Government has delayed the introduction of these windfall taxes and will implement measures that will allow electricity producers to retain all of their windfall profits for the first 11 months of 2022. When the energy crisis hit households, the European Commission put forward options that governments could implement to protect citizens. One way was to regulate retail energy prices. Sinn Féin proposed this measure to reduce and cap electricity prices to provide certainty and financial support to households. The Government rejected it. Countries right across Europe are now doing what Sinn Féin has been calling on the Minister to do, which is to ensure that there is certainty for their citizens in relation to electricity prices. In Germany, The Netherlands, in France, Poland, Austria and elsewhere, they are doing what we were asking the Government to do but instead it has taken a decision to leave households at the whim of energy companies and deal with record energy bills that are simply unaffordable. That choice is the wrong one.

Today's motion asks the Minister to reverse that. Just like the Minister reversed his decision on windfall taxes and on the wholesale energy market, it is time he stood up for consumers and makes sure that Government acts to reduce energy bills for people.

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