Peter Burke
Question:606. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider increasing the threshold for means tested fuel allowance. [14297/22]
View answerTuesday, 22 March 2022
Questions (606)
Written answers
The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from October to April, which is supporting up to an estimated 400,000 households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only one allowance is paid per household.
In Budget 2022 and with immediate effect the Government increased the weekly means threshold for the fuel allowance scheme by €20 to €120 above the appropriate rate of Contributory State Pension representing a 20% increase and enabling more people to qualify for this support. The €120 allowable means limit is significantly more than the €33 weekly rate of fuel allowance.
The €120 allowable means limit ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment goes to those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own.
Any proposal to further increase the allowable means for Fuel Allowance purposes would have to be considered in this context and in the context of the overall policy and budgetary situation.
Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, Exceptional Needs Payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which customers are unable to meet out of their own resources, and this may include exceptional heating costs. Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Question No. 607 answered with Question No. 591.