asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy if, in view of the unduly high cost of ESB connection, he will introduce the subsidy scheme to assist persons applying for connection.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - ESB Connection Cost.
13.
I assume that the question relates to rural houses to which the scheme referred to in the question applies.
The ESB have informed me that over 99 per cent of rural houses, excluding those of recent construction, have now been connected to the supply, and that the remaining such houses have already been offered supply at least once on subsidised terms. Since their introduction in 1946, almost £100 million has been spent on rural electrification schemes.
Quotations by the ESB for connection to the supply including newly constructed dwellings take into account the fact that the ESB pay the first £115 of the connection cost together with half of the amount by which the connection cost exceeds £850. A scheme of deferred payments also operates whereby connection costs may be spread over a five-year period. The Deputy will realise, of course, that it is the electricity consumer who is, in fact, financing these reductions in the full connection cost.
The Deputy may also be aware that the Council of Agriculture Ministers of the EEC are considering proposals for the stimulation of agriculture in the less favoured areas of the west of Ireland. One of the proposals envisages the provision of finance towards the improvement of the electricity supply in the areas mentioned.
Is the Minister aware that some new houses which could not possibly have been offered terms by the ESB previously, quite a number of them, have been waiting a very substantial time for connection and that some people have been asked for outlandish payments—£1,200 or £1,300 in one case—and that even after paying such a sum they still have to wait a very considerable period before being connected? Would the Minister not agree that the whole system seems to be haywire? Would he try to do something about it before there is a strike by ESB consumers because they cannot afford to pay the increases in charges?
I assume the Deputy is referring to new houses rather than existing houses?
Both, but particularly new houses.
As regards existing houses, subsidised rural electrification goes back to 1946, as the Deputy knows. The 1971-75 rural electrification scheme, which is now completed, was designed to give every unconnected rural householder at the time a further and final opportunity—they had already received a number of opportunities—to obtain a supply on subsidised terms.
That is all rubbish.
In 1976 a Bill was brought in by the then Government— fair play to them—allocating a further capital contribution of £300,000 for those still outstanding for connection. That scheme is now nearly completed. As regards new houses, I accept the Deputy's point that there is quite considerable cost involved for people building new houses sometimes on sites which, despite the advice of the ESB, people decide to use when they find they cannot get a different site although the site they acquire is very far from the ESB supply. It was for that reason that the Minister, Deputy O'Malley, got the co-operation of the ESB for a further scheme which I mentioned providing that the first £115 of the connection cost would be met together with half the amount over £850, together with deferred payments over five years. I accept that it is still a problem for many people, including some constituents of my own. We hope that the scheme of the Agriculture Ministers will come through early in the new year and if the Deputy wishes to put down another question, say next February, I shall try to get some information for him then.
The Minister might not be able to answer it then because he might not be here. Would the Minister, since he is aware from his own profession that houses have a way of changing hands, agree that if somebody had been offered a connection in 1976 and sold his house—it could have been sold twice since—it is unfair to penalise the present owner of the house when he applies for connection and ask him to pay an outlandish sum?
Would the Minister not accept that in the case of old houses still unconnected, most of them located in isolated areas, and a number in Cork south-west, the ESB demand payment of up to £2,500 for a connection? In view of the impossibility of such people paying that sum, what action can the Minister take to help people who have been without electricity over the years because they were too poor to avail of a supply in the past?
I have already answered that question.
Does the Minister consider it fair to say to a person: "Unless you pay £2,500 we will not provide you with electricity"? Some of these people were unable to avail of the scheme earlier because they had not money to pay for it. In some cases they were not even offered the opportunity.
The Deputy is making a speech.
I am asking a question. I am asking if the Minister agrees that 55 years after the electricity scheme was established it is fair to ask people to pay £2,500, especially old people and many in isolated areas, if they want to avail of an electricity supply? This is completely ridiculous. I shall put down a few questions because the scope of this question does not allow for the comprehensive cover this matter needs——
The Chair agrees.
I know the Chair is rather impatient and I would not blame him for being in a bad mood at the moment.
The Chair is concerned about the Deputy using a question to make a speech.