The household benefits package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence.
Prior to the capping of expenditure at 2010 levels and the subsequent cut of €5 million in the 2014 Budget for the Free TV licence scheme, payments were made to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, (DCCAE) for the Free TV licence scheme on a monthly basis using an agreed formula based on a percentage of the Department’s customer base. In Budget 2017 an additional €1 million was made available to increase the payment made to DCCAE.
There are 429,463 customers in receipt of the free television licence as of July 2017. The amounts paid and customers in receipt of the licence each year from 2008 to date are
Year
|
Customers
|
€
|
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
(July ) 2017
|
372,152
381,142
394,030
404,619
408,626
413,214
407,824
419,209
424,492
(July) 429,463
|
53,700,925
55,703,654
57,184,565
57,184,560
57,184,560
57,184,560
52,184,556
52,184,556
52,184,556
(July ) *31,024,324
|
* This figure is the amount paid by my Department to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment as of July 2017 (€4,432,046 per month, projected expenditure for 2017 is €53,184,552).
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.