Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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290. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the estimated cost of providing a €500 energy credit to each private household. [43563/25]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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291. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the estimated cost of providing a €500 energy credit to each private household. [43564/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 290 and 291 together.

As part of a suite of targeted cross-Government measures aimed at protecting those most at risk of fuel poverty, Budget 2025 introduced a fourth Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme. This Scheme provided two payments of €125 made to nearly 2.3 million domestic electricity accounts between November 2024 and February 2025, at a cost of €570million.

To date €3.3 billion has been transferred through the four electricity credit schemes to nearly 2.3 million domestic households.

Based on the previous estimate of 2.3 million Meter Point Registration Numbers (MPRNs), the cost of providing a net €500 credit to each private household would be a total cost to the Exchequer of €1.15bn This takes account of the direct cost to the Exchequer plus VAT foregone.