Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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74. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment what provisions are made for those who are unable to avail of the electricity credit allowance due to the meter being installed by the landlord (details supplied). [46547/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Budget 2025 provided a €2.6 billion package of social protection measures to support households, individuals and businesses impacted by the increases in prices from recent high levels of inflation. It also introduced the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme IV through which over 2.2 million households will receive two payments of €125 (inclusive of VAT) in the November/December 2024 and January/February 2025 billing cycles, at a total cost of €520 million (excluding VAT). The payments apply to domestic electricity accounts, including those with Pay-As-You-Go meters, which are subject to distribution use of system charges at the rate for urban domestic customers (DG1) or the rate for rural domestic customers (DG2).

While the majority of residential tenants will hold their own domestic electricity accounts, and therefore receive the credit directly, others could have tenancy agreements where tenants pay their actual share of each bill and, in those cases, will benefit from the payment because the amount of the bill will be reduced by the amount of the payment. A small proportion could have other arrangements in place whereby electricity costs are part of the rental cost. Where tenants have a dispute relating to tenancies including any terms relating to electricity payments, these can be referred to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) for dispute resolution.

In addition, the Submeter Support Scheme II was established to provide equivalent support to households where electricity is supplied via a ‘supplier submeter’ installed by an electricity supplier. This situation occurs where an existing dwelling has been divided for the purposes of accommodating additional people and provides an independent meter for this accommodation. Examples of this situation would include a secondary suite, or house being modified to contain further distinct units than for which it was initially purposed.

The Scheme allows for review by a domestic electricity customer’s supplier, where the customer has not received the payment. The customer can seek further review by the CRU, which has oversight of the Scheme, following the decision of the electricity supplier. CRU provides a dedicated email address for Oireachtas members at oireachtas@cru.ie, which enables them to raise matters directly to the CRU.