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

I welcome the students from Mitchelstown. I am attending the House on behalf of the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I will read out the answer he provided for this but I will address those very specific questions Senator Flynn put in the follow-up.

The Government is acutely aware of the impact the recent increases in global energy prices are having on households. Throughout 2022 the Government introduced a €2.4 billion package of supports as part of budget 2023, and has introduced a package of one-off measures worth €2.5 billion. This includes a new electricity costs emergency benefit scheme through which €550.47 exclusive VAT is being credited to each domestic electricity account in three payments. The first payment has been made with the second due in the current January-February billing cycle, and the last and final payment in the March-April billing cycle. The estimated cost of this scheme for more than 2 million domestic electricity households is €1.211 billion. This is in addition to the first electricity costs benefit scheme in April, May and June 2022. Upon the scheme's conclusion on 30 June 2022 more than 2.1 million domestic electricity accounts had received the payment with the value of these payments totalling almost €377 million. This means that 99.36% of all eligible domestic electricity accounts had the credit applied.

The use of the meter point registration number, MPRN, as a unique identifier ensured a very broad reach and no application of means testing. The payment is applied to a domestic electricity account using the single identifier of the MPRN to ensure that it can be administered automatically and without an application. The advantage of the scheme is that it uses the MPRN to identify all domestic electricity accounts and to ensure that payments are made directly and automatically to those accounts without using means testing, application or approval.

Despite this advantage, the original scheme had limitations. As a result there are cohorts that did not receive the payment. One particular cohort, identified since the first scheme, includes a number of Traveller households who use local authority accommodation and who are unable to access the credit. In this situation the MPRN is registered to the local authority and it supplies multiple households. This group is identifiable through the use of local authority accommodation. In approving the second electric costs emergency benefit scheme, the Government also approved funding for this group. This included provision for payment to be made to these households in respect of the first scheme. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has worked with the County and City Management Association, CCMA, on this matter and has written to each local authority. It requested that the local authorities identify and confirm the number of eligible households on local authority sites. Funds were then provided to individual, eligible local authorities at the end of 2022 to enable them to make the necessary payments to these households in their areas. The allocation of these funds to Traveller households is a matter for each local authority. Any delay with the allocation of funds should be raised directly with the relevant local authority.