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.
Taking account of the fact that the Fuel Allowance is a household based payment and that qualification is not just based on the means test but on a number of other complex qualifying criteria such as household composition, it is not possible for my Department to provide an accurate projection of the potential cost of the measures outlined by the Deputy. My Department also does not maintain records across all schemes of the amount by which unsuccessful fuel applicants are over the income threshold. It is also worth noting that many people above the existing income threshold do not make an application.
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.
My Department also provides discretionary exceptional needs payments, where appropriate, to people who face difficulties in meeting fuel bills. These payments are not ring-fenced or budget limited as they would be if they were drawn from an earmarked fund, but rather are demand led.
The provision of any additional supports such as further increasing the allowable means for Fuel Allowance purposes would have cost implications and could only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
