Caít Keane (Fine Gael)

The proposal in the Bill is to change the position in the Act under which board members were required to divest themselves of shares in the company within three months of taking office. This was a good rule and it is being superseded by a requirement to report such matters to the Standards in Public Office Commission. I do not believe it is okay for directors to hold shares in their company.

I welcome the proposal to enable the Minister to set targets for energy efficiency. As time is limited, I will not discuss this issue in detail other than to note that the legislation places the onus on energy companies to inform consumers of what options are available to them.

I welcome the increase of €30 million in the allocation for the better energy scheme which targets fuel poverty. I compliment the Minister on accepting an amendment in the Dáil on fuel poverty, which will require that some of the money from the energy efficiency fund be allocated towards addressing fuel poverty. The Minister has proposed to phase out direct State supports for energy efficiency as part of a shift towards a pay-as-you-save model. I welcome this move. We must reduce up-front costs to households. We should make a start by promoting energy efficiency.

The Minister alluded to energy theft, which I understand costs €32 million per annum. In the United Kingdom energy theft costs every household £10 per annum. I welcome the proposal in the Bill to deal with the theft issue.

The Government's new energy policy framework is due to be published next year. I hope it is ambitious enough, although I am sure that under the Minister's stewardship, it will be. Having listened to him during the debate in the House on energy, I have great confidence in that regard.

I would like to see definitions of energy terminology in the Bill and definitions for words such as "bio-fuel". It is easy to call something "bio" but when it comes to it, it is not bio. The bio-diesel on sale in Tesco cannot really be termed "bio-diesel". It is fossil based and does not comply with what we would regard as B100. Renewable fuel is less than 3% fossil based. We should base our terminology on what is really renewable and not on what people like to think is and sell as renewable. There should be energy labelling like with food labelling. What is in fuel should be stated at the pumps and if it is not less than 3% fossil based, it should not be called bio anything. It should be totally renewable. I propose that some definitions of terminology be included in the legislation.