Vol. 415 No. 3
109 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will consider an increase in the number of units allowed to recipients of the free electricity allowance to compensate for VAT increases which have effectively done away with one month's free electricity for many recipients.
The free electricity allowance scheme operated by my Department covers the cost of normal standing charges and a fixed number of units of electricity each year. The number of free units is not affected by changes in the unit price or in the rate of VAT. Recipients, therefore, will continue to receive the same number of free units i.e. 200 units per billing period in the summer and 300 free units in the winter. The cost of any price or VAT rate change is borne by my Department.
