Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 January 2024
95. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications his plans to amend the electricity cost emergency benefit scheme III for houses that were vacant or had low usage from the period June 2022 to July 2023 and subsequently do not qualify for the energy credits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3122/24]
View answerAs part of Budget 2024 Government approved a new tranche of Electricity Credits which over 2.2 million households will benefit from -- worth €450 in total per household.
Three payments of €150 (including VAT) are being made between December 2023 and April 2024.
The payments are being applied to domestic electricity accounts, including those with Pay As You Go meters, which are subject to distribution use of system charges at the rate for urban domestic customers (DG1) or the rate for rural domestic customers (DG2).
Under Scheme III, usage levels are assessed to ensure that payments are withheld in relation to low usage electricity accounts identified by the distribution system operator, to prevent the payment from being applied to vacant houses.
ESB Networks identified accounts which consumed less than 150 kilowatt hours of electricity per quarter for four consecutive quarters between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023. Domestic electricity accounts flagged as low usage accounts, will not be allocated a payment for that payment period. The payment will not be withheld for accounts with a financial hardship meter, accounts held by registered as a vulnerable customer or accounts which have low usage due to the exporting of energy to the grid through microgeneration.
The Scheme allows for review by a customer’s electricity supplier, if contacted by a customer who has not received the payment. The customer can seek further review by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, which has oversight of the Scheme, following the decision of the electricity supplier. I would encourage any customer who thinks that they should have received the credit to contact their supplier at the first instance, and then the CRU if they have still not received the credit.
