Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
175. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the measures put in place by his Department to alleviate fuel and energy poverty in County of Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11447/22]
View answer176. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will list the methodologies, reports, databases, statistics and all other relevant sources used by his Department to measure fuel and energy poverty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11448/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 175 and 176 together. Energy poverty is influenced by a person’s income, the energy efficiency of their home and the cost of the energy they use. Recent measurements of the share of households likely to be experiencing energy poverty include:
- In 2019 and 2020 the Economic and Social Research Institute assessed the number of households likely to be spending more than 10% of their income on energy needed. In the 2020 analysis, this was estimated to be 17.5% of households;
- The Survey of Income and Living Conditions is carried out annually by the CSO and gives an indication of the number of households experiencing difficulty in keeping their homes warm. In the most recent survey results (for 2020, published in 2021), the proportion of people who reported that they were unable to afford to keep their home adequately warm was 3.4%.
A research network on fuel poverty chaired by the Economic and Social Research Institute has been established to examine the data and metrics needed to improve existing measures for fuel poverty in Ireland. The group consists of representatives from my Department, the Department of Social Protection, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Central Statistics Office.
The Government has put a range of policies and measures in place to alleviate fuel and energy poverty. These measures supplement lower income households through the Fuel Allowance and other payments, as well as providing free energy efficiency upgrades through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland schemes and the Social Housing retrofitting programme. This year, 58% (€203 million) of the total Government retrofit budget of €352 million will be spent on dedicated energy poverty retrofit supports and local authority retrofits.These supports are available nationwide and are linked to a household’s individual circumstances.
In addition, a payment of €200 (inclusive of VAT) will be paid to all domestic electricity accounts as part of the Government’s package of measures to provide further support to households in the context of increased living costs.
