Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 February 2024
89. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to set out the guidelines reported to now be in place for low-usage customers accessing electricity credit payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9057/24]
Amharc ar fhreagra90. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if there are plans to review the energy credits for properties that were vacant or had low usage; if his attention has been drawn to the fact a lot of vulnerable people were unable to qualify for the energy credit after receiving an offer of social housing from their local authority as some local authority homes were vacant for a lengthy period of time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9138/24]
Amharc ar fhreagra93. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications further to Parliamentary Question No. 147 of 30 January 2024, the steps a customer can take having already raised the issue with the supplier and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (details supplied). [9331/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 89, 90 and 93 together.
As part of Budget 2024, Government approved a new tranche of Electricity Credits, which over 2.2 million households will benefit from, totalling €450 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.
The CRU confirmed that as of 12 January 2024, 95.2% of the accounts not designated as low usage accounts received the December payment.
