Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Household Benefits package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. 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. The package is also available to some people under the age of 66, who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. My Department will spend approximately €273 million this year on HHB.

In 2022 the estimated cost of the gas and electricity element of the package is €203 million and will benefit over 476,000 households. The gas and electricity element is paid at a rate of €35 per month, 12 months of the year.

Any decision to increase the electricity and gas aspect of the package would have budgetary consequences and would have to be considered in the context of overall budget negotiations.

The Government is committed to protect vulnerable households from energy poverty. In light of ESRI research and the commitment to ensure that the carbon tax is progressive, the Government has committed to very significant increases in a targeted package of social protection supports in Budget 2022. These supports were selected to counteract the impact of the increased carbon tax on low-income households. The specific measures are:

- An increase to the Qualified Child Payment of €2 per week for children under 12 and €3 per week for children over 12.

- An increase in the Living Alone Allowance of €3 per week.

- An increase to the Fuel Allowance of €5 per week.

- An increase in the income threshold for Working Family Payment of €10 per week .

Analysis undertaken estimates that the net impact of the combined measures is progressive. Households in the bottom four income deciles will see all of the cost of the carbon tax increase offset, with the bottom three deciles being better off as a result of these measures.

As well as increasing the weekly rate of fuel allowance with immediate effect, we also made a number of reforms to the fuel allowance scheme in Budget 2022, including:

- Increasing the weekly means threshold by €20 to €120, representing a 20% increase and enabling more people to qualify for this support.

- The qualifying period for Jobseeker’s and Supplementary Welfare Allowance recipients was reduced from 15 to 12 months with effect from September 2022, again enabling more people to qualify for the support.

The recently announced Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Payment is a key measure being developed by the Government to help mitigate the effects of the recent unprecedented rise in electricity prices. The scheme, under the auspices of the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications and supervised by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities will be paid in addition to the gas and electricity element of the HHB package to qualifying households. Approximately 2.1m households will benefit by €100 each from the new scheme. Primary and secondary legislation will be required and it is expected that payments will begin in Quarter 1 2022.

The Deputy will appreciate that provision of income support is only part of the answer in terms of addressing energy costs. One of the best ways to tackle energy costs in the long term is to improve the energy efficiency of the dwelling through proper building and household insulation. This is the responsibility of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The SEAI provides a range of schemes in this area including the Better Energy Homes scheme, the Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme, the Better Energy Warmth & Wellbeing Pilot Scheme, the Deep Retrofit Pilot Scheme, Better Energy Communities and Free Energy Efficiency Upgrades (co-funded by the Irish Government and European Union and delivered by the SEAI).

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, and this may include help towards the cost of utility bills. Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.