Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 9, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following: “(3) Electricity suppliers shall remove any arrears limits placed on pre-pay meters until the Minister directs otherwise.”

Amendment No. 6 is with regard to electricity suppliers removing "any arrears limits placed on prepay meters until the Minister directs otherwise". This is according to the most recent data from the energy regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, that there are 217,450 households in arrears, or about 10%, and that hundreds of households have been disconnected so far this year. However, we are sorely lacking in data on a number of households that self-disconnect. I have repeatedly raised this with the regulator at committee. Self-disconnection concerns those who are on prepaid meters who are not physically disconnected from the grid but who are going without electricity because they simply cannot afford to top up the meter.It is Dickensian to think of households going without a basic necessity such as electricity because they cannot afford it. This amendment seeks to remove the limits so households would not be disconnected.