Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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169. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the action that the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities proposes to take against gas companies which disconnect a vulnerable customer, (details supplied), given the moratorium on disconnections. [59044/22]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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170. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the position regarding the Government electricity credit for a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59061/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Government is acutely aware of the impact that the increase in global energy prices is having on households. That is why throughout 2022 Government introduced a €2.4 billion package of supports and as part of Budget 2023 introduced a package of once off measures worth €2.5 billion. This includes a new Electricity Cost Emergency Benefit Scheme through which €550.47 (exclusive of VAT) will be credited to each domestic electricity account in three payments of €183.49 (exclusive of VAT) in each of the following billing periods - November/December 2022, January/February 2023, and March/April 2023.This is a measure which uses the single eligibility criterion of a meter point registration number (MPRN), to ensure payments to each domestic electricity account are made as soon as possible, without any additional means testing.

As such, it is being applied automatically to all domestic electricity accounts which are held with suppliers on the effective date for each payment as set out in the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme II Regulations 2022, Statutory Instrument 521 of 2022, i.e. 27 October 2022 in respect of the first payment, 20 December 2022 in respect of the second payment, and 27 February 2023 in respect of the third payment. If a customer switches supplier, it will be the supplier with which they had their account on the relevant effective date that will make the payment to that customer.

Suppliers are required to maintain records of any accounts they have been unable to credit, and to return these unallocated credits for the purpose of the scheme to ESB Networks by 31 July 2023. The CRU had a dedicated email address for Oireachtas members: oireachtas@cru.ie.