Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The purpose of amendments Nos. 6 and 13 is to insert text that will ultimately remove arrears limits on prepay meters. I have a prepay meter, so I am familiar with the system. I am interested to discuss further with the Deputy whatever we can do for people with prepay meters, although not necessarily what we can do for me.

As with the previous electricity credit schemes, prepayment customers will have the payment credited to their accounts and suppliers will engage with customers regarding arrangements for this. Everybody with a prepay meter received the credits in the past. Suppliers will notify customers of how to avail of the credit and when the payment is credited via a text message on the receipt.

In August this year, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, announced the reintroduction of specific customer protection measures for the coming winter to strengthen the existing protections that are currently in place. The strengthened consumer protection obligations on suppliers that come from CRU include an obligation to extend debt repayment periods of 18 months. There is also an obligation to reduce debt burdens on pay-as-you-go top-ups. A maximum of 10% of a single customer payment can be put against debt. For example, if you make a €20 top-up, only €2 will go towards debt repayment, if you have any debt. That is a change from the past when €5 of €20 went towards repaying debt.

There is to be better value for customers on financial hardship meters. The suppliers have been told to automatically switch people on hardship meters to the most economic tariff. The CRU has also mandated the suppliers to promote the vulnerable customer register and a moratorium on disconnections for registered vulnerable customers between 1 November 2024 and 31 March 2025, and for all households between 9 December 2024 and 17 January 2025.

These are obligations on suppliers that are mandated by the CRU. They are not in primary legislation, in contrast with the recommendation in this amendment, which proposes that we put this into the legislation. If we were to impose new requirements or conditions on people on prepay meters, we would do so through the existing working mechanism of the CRU. The CRU is answerable to the Oireachtas committee and I urge any members of that committee to speak directly to the CRU in that regard.

Electricity suppliers also have supports available so the energy credit can be provided to customers and supplier hardship funds can be accessed by pay-as-you-go customers in the same way as bill pay customers. Electricity suppliers are working with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, and with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Many people do not know that their suppliers have a hardship fund. If you contact your supplier and say that for some reason you cannot pay your bill, you can apply to obtain funds from the hardship fund. Customers will be offered €20 emergency credit once their balance reaches a certain point, which will provide more time to purchase a top-up. Additionally, customers will not be disconnected during credit-friendly times, which means they will not be disconnected between 5 p.m. and 10 a.m. on weekdays or over the weekend. Any emergency credit provided will be paid back from future top-ups.

Any customer who is in need of additional support can also apply for an additional needs payment provided by the Department of Social Protection, including customers on a pay-as-you-go meter who have a need for financial assistance to facilitate their continued energy supply. Every effort will be made to ensure that vulnerable individuals in financial distress who qualify receive an additional needs payment on the same day or as soon as possible where an issue relates to electricity and heating expenses. The officials in the Department of the environment engaged directly with officials from the Department of Social Protection to confirm that additional needs payments can be made for people who are finding difficulty paying their bills.

I stress that it is not possible to remove arrears limits from accounts completely because of the regulatory regime in the European Union. The regulation of retail prices in the electricity market ended in 2011 and in the gas market in 2014. Price setting by electricity suppliers is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned. For those reasons, I cannot accept these amendments.

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