Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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83. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the engagements he has had with the regulator and energy suppliers to ensure that the determination of PR6 and the renewable heat obligation do not place upward pressure on household energy bills; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60288/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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The amount that can be raised through network charges to fund grid upgrades and the renewable heat obligation will come up soon. The Minister mentioned he has spoken to energy suppliers, but has he spoken to them as well as the regulator on the pressures these will put on household energy bills? While we accept that investment in the grid and transition to renewable heat are essential, what safeguards will be put in place to shield householders from increases?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The programme for Government acknowledges the increased energy cost pressures on households and businesses. I know, as I said earlier, that that is a real issue for people. The programme for Government commits to bringing forward additional measures to address those costs, and we have discussed that. I established a cross-government energy affordability task force. We identified particular measures, which we have dealt with in this budget. A further piece of work we are doing, which I will bring forward, is the final report in 2026. That will look at network charges, structures and so on. There will be a European dimension to this too, and it requires movement from Europe, particularly with regard to the spark gap. That needs to be addressed.

We are committed to reaching our legally binding targets on climate neutrality. We are also committed to bringing about energy sovereignty in this country. As Deputy Ó Cearúil mentioned in the previous question, we have a real opportunity to do that and to secure for ourselves clean energy that is generated and owned by us and that will help us decarbonise our society and reduce our energy bills.

Given the potential impact the RHO could have on end customers, energy affordability and the impact on household energy bills were key considerations in developing the scheme. My Department has carried out extensive analysis and stakeholder engagement, including with energy suppliers, to ensure that final decisions taken in relation to the scheme are evidence based and supportive of its successful introduction. A number of scheme parameters have been designed to allow flexibility to obligated parties in meeting their obligations, which will in turn reduce the overall burden on the end consumer.

Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity market and the implementation of the price review 6 process and its outcomes is a matter for the regulator, the CRU. The CRU is independent and, in relation to the outcome of the price review strategy and associated issues, the Deputy can and may wish to engage directly with it. He should note, however, the significant equity investment the Government is making in the system operators, which we discussed just last night. That in itself is significant-----

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Minister.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Okay. I will come back in on some of that.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Most people will know, and the people in the Gallery will know, that the need for the grid upgrades is driven in part by the growing energy demands of data centres, whose usage has increased by 400% since 2015. Therefore, all the extra energy we are creating in renewables is being gobbled up by the data centres. The Government's own officials last November, in a memo issued by the Department of public expenditure, pointed out that the upward pressure on energy bills is due mainly to data centre expansion. That followed a warning from the Secretary General of the Minister's own Department in May that data centre growth could threaten our ability to solve the housing crisis. We have repeatedly highlighted the unfairness in the funding model for our grid, but the draft or interim decision for PR6 in July seems to ingrain this. Under the CRU's draft decision, households and SMEs will see their electricity network charges increase but the data centre users will see reductions of up to 18%.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As I have said in the House before, I reject both the assertions from the Department of public expenditure and the comments made earlier this year on housing and data centres. They are not correct. Government policy is clear on this. We have a growing population and growing housing stock, thankfully. Price review 6, when published before the end of this year, will show how we will meet that future energy demand. We need to invest in our grid, and there will be a cost associated with that. I mentioned what we were doing last night in relation to providing the equity investment for ESB and a further equity investment for EirGrid. That reduces the requirement for borrowing somewhat and allows them to leverage off that equity to borrow. Into the future, I will look at maybe longer term borrowing and repayment to reduce the burden on the regulatory framework. That is something we have to balance, but we do need this grid investment. I put it to the Deputy again that projects like the North-South interconnector are absolutely required. This is consented to both sides of the Border and it is not developed. It needs to happen. The connector is one project that will bring down energy bills for businesses and households straight away.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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I think we all agree that the equity investment we were discussing last night is necessary. Unfortunately, however, there does not seem to be anything there to safeguard against repeating past mistakes to ensure that the investment is directed towards the social good and to prioritising energy affordability. One company, Energia, justified its recent price hikes based on the network charge increases. On its website it says that it has worked to minimise the impact on customers but that the price changes are unavoidable. At a recent appearance before the committee, however, concerns were raised that network charge increases could not be used to explain its recent price hikes because the network charges increased by €29 but its charges increased by €200. This suggests that the energy suppliers may be using network costs to facilitate extra profit, which is not surprising. To date, the committee has received no update from the regulator about its justification. At a minimum, we need transparency as to how the costs are translated into bills and mechanisms to safeguard against profiteering.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As regards cost transparency, absolutely, and we need an analysis, and we are doing an analysis, of the costs that are there. I have met the four largest energy providers and have interrogated them on this very matter. We have to watch this very closely. Energy bills are too high in Ireland. They are too high right across Europe. In Cyprus, net energy costs are about 20% of average net pay, so we are not on our own on this. We are about the eighth most expensive in Europe. As I mentioned to Deputy Whitmore earlier, there are unique reasons for that because of our being an island nation, but we need to take measures that will drive down costs permanently. We will always be at risk of geopolitical issues too, though. That is why we need to continue and accelerate the delivery of clean energy and renewables - energy that we ourselves own and can generate to decarbonise our society, to reduce energy bills and to secure energy for the future of this country. That is what drives me. Affordability is key and central to that. Every discussion I have at the European Council and with energy providers is about affordability. We have to work hard on that to drive down costs and provide affordability but also support those who need it most. That is why the measures in the budget were so critical.