Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

It is freezing outside and, as we sit in this Chamber, there will be people sitting at home - elderly people and people experiencing energy poverty - who will be afraid to turn on their heating because they know they simply cannot afford to. They will leave it as long as possible before they can make themselves comfortable, and that is not right in a wealthy country like Ireland.

We are at a situation now where prices for electricity have almost doubled in the past five years. It has gone from €976 for an average bill to €1,817. The pressures being put on individuals and businesses are astronomical. Many retailers have increased their prices by 10% to 12%, adding an extra €150 or €200 on to a Bill. That is while their own costs are going down. They are hiking up their prices and they are paying less for the wholesale energy they are purchasing.

There are 300,000 homes in electricity arrears at the moment, and 180,000 in gas arrears. The average electricity arrear per household is €436. That is a lot of money to have sitting as a bill a person is not able to pay. For gas, the average is €186. There are 187,000 customers who are in long-term arrears for electricity. That shows the Minister of State the extent of the problem. That is a red flag. If 190,000 electricity customers have not been able to pay their bills for over 90 days, that is a warning signal to which the Government needs to listen.

We heard earlier from both sides of the House that it is now time to call out the energy companies. What I would say to that is that it is way past time that energy companies were called out. Now it is time to call out the Government for its inaction on this issue. Energy companies are in the business to make money and make profit. That is their financial and legal responsibility. It is the Government's responsibility to regulate them and ensure vulnerable people, families and businesses across this country can actually pay their electricity bills and that there is not gouging happening. We all know in this Chamber, and even the Taoiseach mentioned it, that there is gouging happening with electricity prices. However, rather than the Government actually sitting down and going through the analysis and examining exactly, bit by bit, where that gouging is happening and who is gouging, it is not taking that action. It is just calling them out.

The Minister met with the energy companies a month ago and sat down with them and had a chat. He came back in here and said that it was great, and that the energy companies are going to put in hardship funds. Hardship funds will do nothing to drive the price of electricity or gas down. They will do absolutely nothing to address those systemic problems that we have in our market at the moment. What I would also say to the Minister of State is to go on to any of those retailers' websites, because we did it this afternoon, and search for "hardship fund" and come back and tell me how many of those websites are making it easy to find if someone is in trouble. We could not find any information about how much is available, how to access it or what is there. If we could not find it via all these retailers' websites, I do not think he could say it is clearly available for anyone who is actually struggling to pay their bills at the moment. The Minister was really sold a pup with those hardship funds.

We have also heard an awful lot over the past number of weeks since the budget about why we should have energy credits. The Social Democrats will maintain our position on this. It is the same position we had last year and the year before when it comes to energy credits. Energy credits should be targeted. We are not calling for energy credits for holiday homes. We are not calling for energy credits for wealthy people who can afford to pay their bills. We are calling for energy credits to be targeted at those people who cannot pay their bills and who are really struggling. That is where the money, support and assistance should go. We do not want to see €100 million wasted on holiday home electricity meters because that is what happened previously. It was a huge waste of money by this Government. We want that money in the pockets of the people who actually need it.

We heard the Minister mention a disconnection moratorium for registered vulnerable customers between 1 November and 31 March and that there is a winter disconnection moratorium for all other customers between 8 December and 16 January. That is a measly four weeks. When we talk about vulnerable customers, that means medically vulnerable customers. That does not mean financially vulnerable customers. I brought a Bill forward in the previous term to address that and include financially vulnerable customers in that moratorium and in that definition. The Government did nothing on it and has continued to ignore it.

One of the recommendations of the energy affordability task force was that an analysis of the price differentials should be done to see whether there is gouging happening. That action has to take place immediately. The task force was set up in June. The interim report was reported last month, and it is now going to be next year before we get any actual tangible measures. That is not acceptable when we are in the teeth of an energy crisis and a cost-of-living crisis. The number of people who are going to fall through those gaps over the winter is enormous. I ask the Minister of State to move on whatever measures he can to ensure that those people who are struggling are assisted and do not fall further into debt because that is exactly what is going to happen.

Next year, when we have this disconnection on arrears data, there is going to be a huge increase in the number of people who cannot afford to pay their bills. What I would say to the Minister of State is to please, as a Government, be proactive. It should help those people now. Do not let them go through a winter where they are cold, stressed and worried about turning their heating on and feeding their children. The Government should support them now with the targeted energy credits the Social Democrats have been calling for because this problem is not going to go away. It will get worse. The Government should please deal with it now before that happens.

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