Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister back to the House. The Daily Mail said that I did not have much to say for eight months but I am making up for it in the past five weeks. There are many reasons this Bill is necessary - fairness, theft of energy, energy safety in electrical, LPG and natural gas fields, and to encourage energy efficiency and combat fuel poverty. The EU required member states to unbundle both the electricity and gas transmission and distribution system operators under Directive 2003/55/EC and Directive 2003/54/EC. Then, SI 280 of 2008 applied to ESB Networks Limited, SI 445 of 2000 applied to EirGrid and SI 760 of 2005 concerned Bord Gáis and Gaslink. When this happened, some workers who worked for ESB or Bord Gáis moved to the new entities. This Bill is to ensure that former ESB workers who have paid into the ESB pension fund and who now work for either EirGrid or ESB Networks are entitled to access those pension funds once they retire. It will be a similar scenario for former members of Bord Gáis who now work for Gaslink. This will be enshrined in primary legislation. This ensures that these workers are treated fairly by the State. The Bills affected include the Electricity Supply Board (Superannuation) Act 1942 and the Gas Act 1976.

In response to Senator Mooney, theft of energy, whether gas or electricity, is hard to quantify. The CER believes that it could be costing consumers in the electricity market up to €30 million annually. In the UK, the theft of electrical copper cable used for signal transmission is a serious issue on railway lines. It is a potentially fatal practise for those engaged in it and for those using the railways. Those who steal electricity or gas must be identified and made to pay for what they have taken. One of the provisions is that they are deemed to be in a contract with the supplier. Those convicted of theft by the courts can face fines up to €150,000 and from six months to five years in jail. The Bill allows for certain bodies such as CER inspectors and energy transmission or transmission system operators to enter into and search land, premises or vehicles where theft of energy is suspected. Inspectors will be allowed to enter dwellings where they suspect such activity is being carried out without a warrant only where they suspect that while a warrant is being sought, equipment used to carry out the theft will be removed or destroyed.

Criminality, whether white collar or blue collar, is a crime and should be punished. The Bill will allow for the recovery of moneys owed. Bills that will be affected are the Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995, the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 and the Gas (Interim)(Regulation) Act 2002.

Too many times, safety is an issue that comes to the fore after an accident has happened and when a life is lost or someone is injured. Unfortunately, accidents do not happen by themselves; rather, they are caused. The best form of protection is prevention. The CER has a safety role in Ireland as we previously discussed in this House during the debate on the Access to Central Treasury Funds (Commission for Energy Regulation) Bill 2011. That related to the offshore petroleum extraction industry, whether oil or gas. This Bill will involve strengthening the role under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 with regard to the powers to appoint electrical investigation officers as per the Energy (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 2006 and also to deal with the appointment of gas safety officers as per the Gas Interim (Regulation) Act 2002. Under this Act, inspectors will have the power to enter such locations where they believe electrical work has been carried out to ensure that it has been carried out to the proper standards. Failure to comply with instructions from the inspector could result in fines up to €15,000. In consultation with the Minister, CER will establish an LPG and natural gas safety regulatory framework. Inspectors will be appointed to investigate incidents and to ensure that gas works are carried out to the standards set out in legislation. As mentioned before in regard to the electricity inspectors these personnel will be empowered to carry out certain functions for the common good.

Safety is of paramount importance. Energy suppliers and those working with energy equipment that will be used by the public have a duty of care to ensure the equipment is installed correctly. Those found to be in breach of the regulations face fines up to €15,000 or up to three years in jail. CER inspectors will be authorised to issue improvement notices and prohibition notices in certain circumstances if deemed necessary. Those found in breach of these notices can face fines up to €25,000. For LPG and natural gas in certain serious situations, fines up to €500,000 will be imposed. Fines should be proportionate to the ability of the guilty to pay and big companies with deep pockets should face big fines. There must be a deterrent for those who break the law.

As with all relevant sections of this Bill, the courts can be appealed to if a party believes that an action by the CER or the Minister is unjust. Other features of the Bill allow the CER to instruct energy suppliers to make their bills to customers clear and easily understandable. Energy suppliers can also be instructed to have a comparison on the bill of the customer's current energy consumption with that of the same period the previous year and the ability to compare the energy consumption of the consumer with that of an average benchmarked consumer. This will enable people to adjust their consumption if there is unnecessary use of energy.

Fuel poverty is of concern to every Member in this House and a household is considered to be energy poor if it is unable to attain an acceptable standard of warmth and energy services in the home at an affordable cost. If a household is spending 20% of its disposable income on energy services then it is in a situation of severe fuel poverty. With rising fossil fuel prices on the world market, it is getting harder for families and those on low incomes to heat their homes. We need to look at how we pay the fuel allowance to vulnerable families and especially to our elderly. This allowance is currently taken up by some 390,000 households. These are the groups that spend a lot of their money on heating. Elderly people who live alone are usually in properties that are very hard to heat because when they were built standards of insulation were non-existent. The Government has looked at this in the report Warmer Homes A Strategy for Affordable Energy in Ireland, which the Minister published last autumn. Proposals in this Bill are part of that strategy, along with policy from Europe.

Regulation 2 of the European Communities (Energy End-Use Efficiency and Energy Services) Regulations 2009 sets out how we should encourage energy efficiency for the consumer. By reducing the percentage of our disposable income we need to spend on energy, we will reduce the levels of fuel poverty in Ireland but the Government alone cannot solve this problem. Energy companies working with the State must play their part. This Government and the last Government have brought in measures such as the grant schemes as distributed by SEAI to help households reduce their energy consumption. The Minister has allowed for the creation of an energy efficiency fund, financed by the energy supply providers. These companies will have to deliver energy efficiency programmes and to encourage their customers to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Companies will be able to offer competitively priced energy audits and show how customers can reduce their bills.

Information is the key to all the measures proposed in this Bill. By informing consumers of alternatives, we will empower them. Energy providers will also have to look get their house in order. The days of uncontrolled waste of energy are over. Money will have to be invested in the infrastructure that the power companies own to reduce losses of energy. We have to encourage more investment in the renewables sector, which is not being harnessed enough. Savings achieved must be passed on to the consumer.

I remind Members that, while we may disagree on ideology, this Chamber can come up with ideas that will challenge the status quo in the energy debate, as seen from last week's Private Members' debate. I refer to fracking. Last week we discussed having an informed debate when the report is back and the consultation has taken place. Then, we will have knowledge about it rather than knocking something before we find out about it.