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

I thank Senator Boylan. This is an important issue. Energy poverty is influenced by people's income, the energy efficiency of their home and the cost of the energy they use in their home. Government policy, therefore, focuses on supplementing lower-income households through the fuel allowance and other payments, as well as by providing free energy efficiency upgrades via the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, schemes and the social housing retrofitting programme.

The Government’s strategy to combat energy poverty was published in 2016 and it is being reviewed at present. Since the publication of the strategy, good progress has been made to alleviate the burden of energy poverty on the most vulnerable in society. I will detail some of the achievements in that regard. The share of households at risk of experiencing energy poverty has reduced from 28% in 2016 to 17.5% in 2020. The proportion of people reporting that they are unable to afford to keep their home adequately warm has fallen from 9% in 2015 to 4.9% in 2019. The funding provided for SEAI energy poverty retrofit schemes has increased dramatically from €15 million in 2015 to more than €109 million in 2021. The fuel allowance has also increased from €20 per week in 2014 to €28 per week in 2021, and it is paid to people receiving long-term social welfare payments, including pensioners, people with disabilities, those parenting alone and jobseekers. The allocation for the retrofitting of social housing has increased, with €65 million allocated for 2021. Free upgrades were carried out in more than 24,000 lower-income homes under the main SEAI energy poverty retrofit schemes. In addition, the Housing for All strategy has committed to introducing additional rent controls that will result in rental properties having a required minimum building energy rating, BER.

Energy efficiency measures are central to addressing one of the root causes of energy poverty. Since 2018, the level of retrofitting under the SEAI schemes has increased from an average value of €3,000 per home to €17,100 per home. This means that those households are more protected from changes in their income or energy costs. The fuel allowance is provided to an estimated 370,000 households across the State. A budget of €292 million has been set aside for the upcoming season. A household benefits package is also available to eligible households and can be used towards meeting the cost of electricity or gas bills. The Department of Social Protection also funds an exceptional needs payment, which can in some cases include support with fuel bills.

Responsibility for the regulation of Irish electricity and gas markets is a matter for the CRU. Protections are in place for those falling into difficulties with their energy bills and suppliers will not disconnect customers who engage with them. The programme for Government and the climate action plan set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a BER rating of B2 and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings over the next decade. A new national retrofit plan will be published in quarter four of this year and the plan is designed to address barriers to energy efficiency investments in four key areas, namely, customer proposition, demand generation, financing and affordability, supplier capacity and governance.

The programme for Government has committed to ensuring that the retrofit programme is socially progressive, with a focus on lower-income households. This commitment will not only help in reducing our carbon emissions, but also, more importantly, benefit lower-income householders in many ways. Homes will be warmer, easier to heat and more comfortable and will also support improved occupant health and well-being, especially among vulnerable groups. The retrofit programme will also stimulate employment generation in what is a highly labour-intensive sector, with the potential to create high-quality sustainable jobs in local communities throughout the country.