Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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237. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on fuel supports for senior citizens for winter 2015-16, given the colder weather in the summer of 2015, which resulted in persons incurring additional heating expenses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34742/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My Department has a number of schemes in place to help senior citizens with their energy costs.

The fuel allowance is a payment of €20 per week for a period from October to April, to low income households. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only one allowance is paid per household. The scheme is means tested and an applicant and members of his/her household may have a combined assessable income of up to €100.00 a week above the appropriate rate of State pension. The fuel allowance payment is targeted at those who are more vulnerable to energy poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own. At the end of the 2014/2015 fuel season, the fuel allowance had assisted over 407,000 households on long-term social welfare payments at a cost of €217 million in 2014.

My Department also pays an electricity or gas allowance of €35 per month as part of the household benefits package. The estimated cost of the package in 2015 is €227 million and is paid to some 416,000 customers, mostly elderly and disabled. The package is generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. People aged over 70 years of age can qualify for the household benefits package regardless of their income or household composition. Those aged under 70 must live alone or only with certain excepted people in order to qualify.

Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, exceptional needs payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which customers are unable to meet out of their own resources – this may include exceptional heating costs.