Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to examine the Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023. I am sure nearly all of us welcome this Bill. At the outset, I would like to note that it is disappointing that more proactive efforts have not been made to pressure utilities into passing on savings to consumers. Unfortunately, the Exchequer will now have to step in to support households at a cost of €1 billion. Notwithstanding that, the terms of this measure and the associated supports introduced by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform are welcome and necessary.

Three €150 energy credits will be made to an estimated 2.237 million household electricity accounts from 1 December, 1 January and 1 March. I heard colleagues across the floor speak about their previous proposals, in particular Sinn Féin's proposal on energy credits. If we had followed that model, it may have been similar to what we saw happen in the UK. I also have concerns about Sinn Féin’s proposal to remove households using less than 600 KW hours per year from the scheme. This could penalise people using very little electricity. Equally, the Labour Party suggestion that many more households should be excluded from the scheme fails to recognise the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on all households across the country.

I welcome clarification around the minimum usage of 150 KW hours per quarter for homes. However, there should be an easy to access appeals mechanism to ensure issues arising from estimated meter readings can be dealt with efficiently. It is also important for the Minister to ask the CRU and suppliers to make additional efforts to ensure vulnerable users are registered. Changes to the previous scheme to assist people using sub-meters are extremely welcome. It is to be hoped this will be last time we need an energy credit. I again appeal to the Minister to have the CRU take a more proactive approach with utilities to ensure savings from wholesale price decreases are passed on to consumers.

Over the past number of years, many households have experienced hardship because of the cost of living, inflation or a mix of both. These energy credits were extremely welcome for those individuals, young, old, families and all sorts of other households. It is welcome to have this measure and it cannot be taken for granted. If we look across Europe, we see that the same system has not been rolled out for householders. We in Ireland are in a very fortunate position and the Government is extremely conscious of the cost of living for householders. Therefore, this measure is extremely welcome.

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