Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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131. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to outline any analysis carried out by his Department, consultancy or State body, relating to the energy poverty action strategy and enabling smart energy service providers to divert surplus renewable energy to Irish homes, with a primary focus on those in fuel poverty or those in social housing; and to provide any annual costs relating to these proposals. [40869/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is currently working to revise the Energy Poverty Action Plan, in response to recommendations made through a consultation which ran earlier this year, and feedback received at the Energy Poverty Stakeholder forum held during the summer. The revised Plan will set out a wide range of clear, timebound actions aimed at tackling energy poverty with appropriate governance and evaluation and will consider the use of smart technologies to benefit energy poor households. It is intended that the Plan will build on and continue the policies and actions that have been driven to date by the existing Plan, and where appropriate, informed by stakeholder input and research, supplement these measures.

The Government recognises that Ireland’s citizens and communities can play a central role in the energy transition, by flexibly managing their energy assets; in response to the level of renewable energy on the grid and in doing so, they can also lower their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint. Consequently, Ireland’s Energy Security Package commits Government to improving the ways that homes and businesses can manage their energy use by providing an evidence-based programme of communications and supporting ‘active consumers’ through smart metering and smart energy services and technologies. These services will enable consumers, including those in energy poverty, to flexibly adjust their demand in response to market signals and the changing level of renewable energy available.

Greater flexibility of consumer demand is one of several methods which will help reduce the volume of renewable energy which is dispatched down in the context of rapidly increasing wind and solar infrastructure. My Department is working to support this flexibility, through the work of the Smart Energy Services Working group, and by supporting the development of other demand-side response measures, greater levels of interconnection with our neighbours, and a greater role for electricity storage systems.