Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 have been ruled out of order because of a potential charge on the Revenue.
Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages
Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 not moved.
Section 1 agreed to.
Amendments Nos. 3 and 4 have been ruled out of order because of a potential charge on the Revenue.
Amendments Nos. 3 and 4 not moved.
Sections 2 to 4, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 5
Amendment No. 5 has been ruled out of order because of a potential charge on the Revenue.
Amendment No. 5 not moved.
Amendments Nos. 6 and 13 are related. Amendment No. 13 is consequential on amendment No. 6. Amendments Nos. 6 and 13 may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.
I move amendment No. 6:
In page 8, between lines 38 and 39, to insert the following:
“(3) Electricity suppliers shall remove any arrears limits placed on pre-pay meters until the Minister directs otherwise.”.
This amendment speaks to increasing protections for prepay customers who might be faced with arrears limits, which, in many instances, result in situations in which lower income, vulnerable households cannot heat their homes. As we face into the colder months of the year, that is not acceptable. Prepay meter customers are often the most vulnerable. The Government should be supporting them, not punishing them. With energy poverty at an all-time high and with Irish electricity prices being some of the highest in Europe, vulnerable customers should be protected.
One of the things we do every year is meet with people who are representatives of those living in energy poverty and those who are directly affected by it. One of the things they say to us is that they did not want to have large arrears building up on their electricity accounts where they have prepay meters. This amendment proposes to remove all arrears limits on prepay meters. As with the previous electricity credit scheme, prepay customers will have the payments credited to their accounts and suppliers will engage with customers regarding arrangements for this. Suppliers will notify customers of how to avail of the credit and when the payment is credited by sending them a text.
In August of this year, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, announced the reintroduction of the specific customer protection measures for the coming winter to strengthen the existing protections in place. The strengthened consumer protection obligations on suppliers mandated by the CRU include the following. First are extended debt payment periods of 18 months minimum. Second is reduced debt burden on pay-as-you-go top-ups. A maximum of 10% of a single customer vend can be put against debt. On a €20 top-up, for example, only €2 can be put towards debt repayment if it exists rather than the €5 which was previously the case. Third is better value for customers on financial hardship meters by being automatically placed on the most economic tariff. Fourth is promotion of the vulnerable customer register. Last is a moratorium on disconnection for registered vulnerable customers between 1 November 2024 and 31 March 2025 and for all households between 9 December 2024 and 17 January 2025.
Electricity suppliers also have supports available. Emergency credit can be provided to customers and supplier hardship funds can be accessed by pay-as-you-go customers in the same way as billpay customers. Electricity suppliers are working with the Money Advice & Budgeting Service and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on this matter. Customers will be offered emergency credit of €20 once their balance reaches a certain point, providing more time to purchase a top-up. Additionally, customers will not be disconnected during credit-friendly times, that is, between 5 p.m. and 10 a.m. on weekdays. No customer will be disconnected over a weekend. Any emergency credit provided will be paid back from future top-ups. Any customer in need of additional support may apply for an additional needs payment, provided by the Department of Social Protection, including customers on pay-as-you-go meters who have a need for financial assistance to facilitate their continued energy supply.
Every effort will be made to ensure that these vulnerable individuals in financial distress who qualify receive an additional needs payment on the same day, or as soon as possible where it relates to electricity and heating expenses.
Finally, I must stress that it is not possible to remove arrears limits from accounts completely. The electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland operate under European law. Regulation of retail prices in the electricity market ended in 2011 and in the gas market in 2014. Price setting for electricity suppliers is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned and for those reasons I cannot accept these amendments.
Amendment by leave, withdrawn.
Section 5 agreed to.
NEW SECTION
I move amendment No. 7:
In page 8, after line 41, to insert the following:
“Review by electricity supplier
6. (1) Where an electricity supplier refuses to make an electricity costs emergency benefit payment then the final customer may request the electricity supplier, on or before 30 June 2025 to review its refusal.
(2) The request under subsection (1) shall state the reasons why the person making the request wishes the refusal by the electricity supplier to be reviewed.
(3) The electricity supplier shall within 28 days of the request under subsection (1), take into account the reasons stated in the review request and shall—
(a) affirm the refusal to make the electricity costs emergency benefit payment, or
(b) on being satisfied that the final customer is or is eligible to be registered as a vulnerable customer or is the holder of a hardship meter account, make the electricity costs emergency benefit payment.
(4) An electricity supplier shall inform the final customer who made the request under subsection (1) of the electricity supplier’s decision under subsection (3) in writing within 28 days of the request for review.
(5) Where the electricity supplier makes a decision referred to in subsection (3)(a) it shall when informing the final customer concerned under subsection (4)—
(a) state the reasons for the refusal, and
(b) specify the period (being not less than 60 days from the date on which the final customer concerned is informed of the decision under subsection (4)) within which an objection, under section 9R(1)(e) of the Act of 1999, may be made to the Commission.
(6) Where, following a review under this section, an electricity supplier determines that an electricity costs emergency benefit payment will not be applied to a domestic electricity account, the final customer may make an objection, under section 9R(1)(e) of the Act of 1999, to the Commission.”.
This is about the review process when a customer is denied a credit. It is an amendment to strengthen the protection of a customer. Parts of our amendment are the instances where it differs from the Minister’s own. The purpose of this amendment to strengthen the protection for the customers by improving the review process where a customer is refused a payment. Many Sinn Féin representatives, myself included, have been contacted by people from low income and vulnerable households and they have been refused a payment. Our amendment extends the period in which customers may ask for the decision to be reviewed, speeds up the process to within 28 days and extends the period in which a customer may appeal a decision to 60 days, as opposed to the Minister’s proposed 28 days.
I thank the Senator. These proposed amended sections 6(3) and (4) seek to include a limit of 28 days for a supplier to consider a review request and 28 days to respond in writing to review requests. While I recognise the merit of this amendment, this could cause unintended consequences for electricity suppliers and consumers. Setting a limit of 28 days for a supplier review and response could prove difficult to implement and adhere to if issues arose. I note that with previous schemes there was a large increase in call volumes to energy supplier call centres in relation to the operation and roll out of the credit. This caused problems such as increased wait times for customers and is not something I wish to add to during the winter months. By permitting the review to be carried out as soon as is practical after receiving the request, this provides the flexibility required for dealing with requests.
It is proposed to reject these amendments and in relation to the proposed section 6(5)(b), the Deputy proposes to provide an extended 60 day for a review decision to be referred to the CRU. The Bill has provided 28 days for this referral. The scheme will end on 31 August 2025. Suppliers will return unallocated funds to ESB Networks, which will in turn forward these moneys back to my Department and then the Exchequer. It is preferable that these moneys are returned to the Exchequer as soon as practicable. My experience of the scheme in the last year is that the process of engaging with suppliers for a person who did not get their energy credit worked very well. A very small number of people who contacted their supplier had to appeal to the CRU. This was fewer than 100 people out of more than two million electricity customers. None of the customers that I dealt with did not get their money in the end. The CRU has taken a very compassionate and sympathetic approach to this. I do not believe that extending the time is going to help or solve any underlying problem. For those reasons I am not willing to accept the amendment.
I will press the amendment.
Amendment put and declared lost.
Section 6 agreed to.
Amendment No. 8 from Senators Warfield and Gavan is ruled out of order because of a potential charge on the Revenue.
Amendment No. 8 not moved.
Section 7 agreed to.
Section 8 agreed to.
Amendment No. 9 from Senators Warfield and Gavan is ruled out of order because of a potential charge on the Revenue.
Amendment No.9 not moved.
Section 9 agreed to.
Sections 10 to 13, inclusive, agreed to.
NEW SECTION
I move amendment No. 10:
In page 14, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:
“Reporting
14. (1) The Minister shall, within 12 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the application of the No. III Scheme and the submeter support scheme to address high electricity costs.
(2) The Minister shall, within 12 months of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the application of the No. III Scheme and the submeter support scheme compared to emergency measures adopted in other EU states to address high electricity costs.”
This is a very simple amendment. It aims to mandate the Minister to produce and lay before the Houses a report on the application of the scheme within 12 months. It was included in the last Bill and therefore I see no reason it should not be accepted this time around.
I agree with the underlying sentiment of this amendment. We did accept it last year. The issue is that there is a typo in the amendment which refers to the No. III scheme rather than the No. IV scheme. What we are willing to do is to continue to supply these reports on an administrative basis. I give my commitment as Minister of State that they will continue to be produced in the same way they were produced over the last year. It is a good thing to have transparency over the operation of the scheme. We will continue to supply the reports for the fourth scheme as we have done for the third. For those reasons I am not accepting the amendment. As Senator Horkan said, it is critical that we get this emergency legislation completed so that people can get their payments before the winter. For those reasons I am not accepting the amendment. I will, however, continue to deliver the reports that are requested.
I withdraw the amendment. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment.
Amendment by leave, withdrawn.
Section 14 agreed to.
Amendment Nos. 11 and 12 from Senators Warfield and Gavan are out of order because of a potential charge on the Revenue.
Amendments Nos. 11 and 12 not moved.
Amendment No. 13 in the names of Senators Warfield and Gavan, cannot be moved; it was already discussed with amendment No. 6.
Amendment No. 13 not moved.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without amendment.
When is it proposed to take Report Stage?
Now.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Bill received for final consideration.
When is it proposed to take Final Stage?
Now.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Question, "That the Bill do now pass", put and agreed to.