2026-02-24

138. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures he is taking to reduce the price of energy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14765/26]

Every time I raise this, I am astounded by the lack of progress on it. We have the highest energy prices in Europe, according to Eurostat. The national energy affordability task force has only met three times since its inception. The only thing it has produced is an interim report. No steps seem to have been taken to reform the Irish energy market and to hold energy companies to account, measures we have been calling on for years. What is the Minister going to do to reduce the price of energy and will he make a statement on it?

I thank the Deputy. First, to correct him, we do not have the most expensive energy prices in Europe. Energy is still too costly and we have got to work on that. It is a priority for Government to bring about changes in that regard. Not all of it is within our control. That is why we need to continue to expand renewables, invest in our grid and drive affordability. The programme for Government acknowledges the increased energy cost pressures on households and commits to bringing forward measures to contain energy costs and tackle energy poverty. Government has introduced a suite of measures already to help households and businesses deal with the cost of energy. For the record, in budget 2026, we approved an extension of the 9% VAT rate currently applied to gas and electricity until the end of this decade, 31 December 2030, saving households up to €100 on average per annum. In January, the fuel allowance payment increased to €38 per week, equating to an increase of more than 15%. Eligibility for the fuel allowance was also extended to those in receipt of the working family payment. About 460,000 households across the country are receiving those direct support. We extended the €400 income tax disregard for households involved in microgeneration for a further three years to the end of 2028. A record €640 million will support the SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes. That is really important because we are driving permanent savings for families through retrofitting. We estimate that savings of up to €1,200 per annum can be achieved through retrofitting homes. We have revised those grants very substantially make them more accessible to households and particularly middle income families. We are going to continue with the warmer homes scheme as well and improve the outputs from it. I also met our four largest energy suppliers, as the Deputy knows. I asked them to stand up hardship funds which, to be fair to them, they did. We will continue to make sure the resources go to helping those families who need it most. There is more that needs to be done and I will come back on a supplementary.

The problem with some of the schemes that have been introduced is that they are not working. Some of them are deeply regressive and inequitable. Most low to middle income households have significant barriers if they have any hope of reaching a B2 standard. What about the solid fuel homes which are mostly rural and are mostly home to elderly people? They are punished by the Government rather than being helped, through hikes in the carbon tax, which are now supported by the Healy-Rae brothers, where there is no accessible, affordable alternative. The same is true for those who rely on home heating oil. On the retrofit loan scheme the Minister mentioned, fewer than 2,000 households have availed of these loans since the scheme started. When we tried to put questions about how far away we are from the 2030 target, I was told it was not the Minister's responsibility. Whose responsibility is it? There is something wrong when the International Energy Agency has called into question the huge gap between retail and wholesale costs. What is the Minister doing to reform the energy market? It costs about three times more to buy energy here than it does to produce it. The ESRI is also saying prices are way above what they were on the eve of the election.

There is more work that needs to be done. That is why I established the national energy affordability task force. On what it has done so far, significantly before the last budget, it produced its interim report which guided us in the last budget. That work continues - things like looking at the structure of the bill and at how we actually pay for our grid investment. Critical to that, if we are to deliver permanent affordability, is to ensure that investment in our grid of €18.9 billion over just this five-year period actually takes place. There are 520 capital projects across the country that will enable us to bring more renewables into our system with cheaper, secure, green, clean energy. We need projects like the North-South interconnector delivered. That one project alone will deliver savings of about €120 on average per household on this island, and will improve grid resilience as well. The Deputy can be assured that those who require assistance with regard to energy and energy poverty will receive the assistance they need in a targeted way. I would rather invest the close to €3.5 billion that was paid in energy credits into permanent changes in our energy system, which is what I am doing.

The last time I raised this issue the Minister said he would look at network charges. What has he done since then to restructure them to make sure that data centres, for example, pay their fair share and take the pressure off households? In the next few months there will be a significant opportunity to bring about fundamental reforms to the energy market that could help households. A meeting is taking place in March. Ireland will hold the Presidency from July. This has to be the Minister's priority. The price of electricity is coupled with the wholesale price of gas due to the marginal pricing system. We have said for years that it has to be reformed. Will the Minister take steps to deal with that? Will he give the regulator the power to tackle price gouging? Is he holding it to account? Will he restructure network charges to ensure that data centres pay their fair share? Will he guarantee that the costs proposed for LNG and data centres are not passed on to households in the legislation for the strategic gas reserve and that relating to private wires?

At every meeting of the Energy Council I have attended, I have raised the issue of affordability. This is an issue that is prevalent in most EU states to varying degrees. I would like to see changes to the regulatory framework happen. Most of that needs to be driven at EU level. Issues relating to, for example, the Spark app need to be dealt with as well. Those issues are being looked at European level in relation to affordability when it comes to energy, particularly for households and small businesses. What the national energy affordability task force and I will be looking at this year is what we can control ourselves. We are still heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels. We need to reduce that dependency. We hedge and we buy forward. That is why when people see wholesale gas prices fall, there is a lag time before we see retail prices fall. We are focused on delivering price reductions over the course of this year on energy. It remains an absolute priority for me.