Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 January 2024
117. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will amend the energy credit scheme to address the gap where those who are not on social welfare and who have moved into a previously vacant house have not been able to get the energy credit due to the property being designated low usage. [3345/24]
View answerAs part of Budget 2024 the Government approved a new tranche of Electricity Credits which over 2.2 million households will benefit from -- worth €450 in total per household.
Three payments of €150 (including VAT) are being made between December 2023 and April 2024. The payments are being applied automatically. Households do not need to apply for it, nor do they need to contact their electricity supplier.
The payments are being applied 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).
Under Scheme III, usage levels are assessed to ensure that payments are withheld in relation to low usage electricity accounts identified by the distribution system operator, to prevent the payment from being applied to vacant houses.
ESB Networks identified accounts which consumed less than 150 kilowatt hours of electricity per quarter for four consecutive quarters between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023. If a domestic electricity account identified by ESB Networks on the effective date in respect of each payment, is flagged as a low usage account, it will not be allocated a payment for that payment period. The payment will not be withheld for accounts with a financial hardship meter, accounts held by registered as a vulnerable customer or accounts which have low usage due to the exporting of energy to the grid through microgeneration.
The Scheme allows for review by a customer’s electricity supplier, if contacted by a customer who has not received the payment. The Supplier will be able to review this and apply the payment if the customer is; a registered vulnerable customer, is eligible to be on the vulnerable customer register, or has a financial hardship meter. The customer can seek further review by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, which has oversight of the Scheme, following the decision of the electricity supplier.
