Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 October 2022
135. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his attention has been drawn to the fact that some eligible persons have not received their €200 electricity credit; the way that person will receive their entitlement under such circumstance (details supplied); the status of his plans to rectify such issues in advance of future electric credit payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49311/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Payment, a credit of €176.22 (excluding VAT), was applied to all domestic electricity accounts through April, May and June 2022. It used the single eligibility criterion of an MPRN to ensure payments to each domestic electricity account as early as possible without any additional means testing. The scheme was operated by the Distribution System Operator (ESB Networks) and electricity suppliers with oversight by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU).
Each supplier was allocated a credit for each MPRN to which they were supplying electricity on 29 March 2022. As such, customers should contact the supplier they were with on this date, in the first instance. In circumstances such as those raised by the Deputy where the assignment of the MPRN on the 29 March is at issue, I would advise that the case be referred to the CRU Customer Care team.
The Deputy may wish to note that CRU provides a dedicated email address for Oireachtas members, which enables them to raise questions to CRU at oireachtas@cru.ie for timely direct reply.
The CRU confirms that upon the scheme’s conclusion on 30 June 2022, 2,138,939 domestic electricity accounts were in receipt of the credit. This means 99.36% of all eligible domestic electricity accounts had the credit applied.
