Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because I have several amendments that will give me an opportunity to discuss the specific issues.

As said by others, it is right to recognise that many households are facing an emergency regarding energy costs but I believe more could and should be done to ensure that while we address the energy crisis, we also address the associated crisis, namely the climate crisis, and the transition we need. We do not have the luxury of a single crisis but need to move forward in ways that act on both.

While supplementing bills may go some way towards assisting as an interim measure, the real problem concerns the bills, the extent of their escalation and the fact that we see profiteering. We need to use other measures. In this regard, some members of the Government have advocated a proper and substantial windfall tax on the major profits in this area. We argued at EU level in favour of proper separation of gas prices and electricity prices, which would allow for a different cap and threshold to be set in terms of electricity prices. If that measure were applied properly, it could be really useful in making renewable energy very affordable and making it the affordable option.

I will not be able to make financial amendments to the Bill, but I believe in actively supporting the transition from dependency on gas-fired central heating, on which Ireland is highly dependent, towards more use of electricity. One of the ways in which we could do that is not by supplementing bills, almost regardless of the form of energy being billed, but by having really targeted additional measures that help people to make the transition.

Standing charges comprise a major issue. It is a genuine problem if people are being told to manage their energy, switch and be efficient while at the same time having their standing charges increased. There does not seem to be a willingness to regulate. In this regard, I refer to our talk about capping the price or, at a minimum, capping the standing charges so they will not increase incrementally. We know the position on the regressive move in May regarding the low-cost standing charge. When representatives of the CRU appeared before the climate committee, they pointed out the position on those who benefited from the lower standing charge. There may be an issue with those with holiday homes and so forth but there are other ways to tackle that. There was also an issue with people with an A-rated house or those who produce their own solar power. They benefited from a lower standing charge, which was a great incentive, but it was removed and the standard rate was applied to them. Therefore, instead of incentivising the transition, we are penalising it. In this regard, we need many other measures not just to help people to pay the bills but also to tackle the runaway escalation and really help people to make the transition.

When considering electricity usage and all the very difficult decisions made on it and energy use, we need to revisit and strengthen the discussion we have been trying to have for two years on data centres and the fact that Ireland's electricity demand over the past five years has increased by 9%. By comparison, the average change in demand in other EU countries has been 0%. Meanwhile, I believe the data centres' demand has increased by over 200%. Therefore, we are really looking at large energy users escalating their use of electricity massively, thereby having a disproportionate impact on our electricity market. We should be considering targeted measures to discourage this form of electricity usage specifically.

We talked about demand reduction but all we have got from the regulators consistently was demand management. This is not demand reduction; it is about determining the time of day the demand might arise. This is not the same as seeking to reduce demand overall. These are related issues. I am raising them to highlight that we have a wider issue concerning electricity and energy usage that extends beyond the measures in this Bill. It is appropriate to raise them because, if we do not, will be applying Band-Aids time and again and not fixing the underlying problem.