Energy Prices

6. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the further measures he intends to introduce to reduce electricity costs for households and SMEs, particularly given the impact of high energy prices on Irish competitiveness; and whether he will examine network charges and other regulated costs contributing to electricity bills. [77683/26]

Electricity costs remain a major burden on both households and SMEs. High energy prices are damaging Irish competitiveness and increasing the cost of doing business. I welcome the Government's supports to date but, ultimately, we have to tackle the underlying costs of electricity. What further measures will the Minister introduce to reduce prices, particularly around network charges and regulated costs?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important point. He is right that energy costs across Europe and here in Ireland are too high. They have increased substantially. The main reason is the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East, which was preceded by the war in Ukraine. That said, Europe and Ireland are still far too dependent on imported fossil fuel, and we need to reduce that dependence. To do that, we need to accelerate renewables. The Deputy will be aware, having advocated for them strongly, of the range of new supports that we have brought forward for household and business retrofitting, which is making a massive difference. There have been 124,000 domestic applications this year alone. We will retrofit more than 70,000 homes this year and more than 5,000 businesses. This means permanent savings, reducing energy use and improving energy efficiency. The Deputy's question about network charges is valid. It relates to the construct and the structure. How do we charge for things and who pays? There are two elements to that. One is the network charges work that is being done at the European Union level. We are leading on that under our Presidency. We want to get that back to the Council in December for agreement on a general approach to move it forward. There has been some discussion around taxation. Discussions with European colleagues have been going well. We want to get the grids package agreed by the end of this year at European level. We have our own grids package, as the Deputy knows, which is PR6, with funding of €18.9 billion. On network charges and the regulatory framework, the national energy affordability task force, NEAT, which I chair, will publish that report in the next couple of weeks. That fed into the budget for shorter term immediate measures, and did so last year too, on the 9% VAT rate. We will publish distinct work on that. It will about taking action to do this very thing by looking at other countries, at how infrastructure is paid for over what period of time, who pays for it and for how long, and so on. That work will come out of the NEAT and I will publish it shortly.

I welcome the enhanced measures that were announced in budget 2027. It is incredible that people who are dependent on the fuel allowance will now qualify for a €9,000 solar and battery grant. People who are dependent on the working family payment can qualify for that grant. These are the people who need help and who will struggle with their electricity costs this winter. This investment, which is available to them right now, can make a real difference, not for today and not for tomorrow but right into the future. That is the systemic investment the Government can make to support families. Billions are being invested in the grid. Consumers need greater transparency as to how it is going to benefit them. The Minister knows I have been outspoken about solar and wind farms in my constituency and the impact they are having. The benefits of those projects are not being felt on the ground. How can it be translated so that people who bear the costs of this infrastructure can see the benefits in their communities, more than they are now?

That is a fair point. Where people feel there is an over-concentration of certain renewable resources, it puts pressure on a community. All of us know that our way out of fossil fuel dependency is through acceleration of renewable energy. We will continue to do that. To respond on communities, I recently visited Octopus Energy in Britain. Greg Jackson is the CEO and founder. It has gained 8 million customers in ten years. Over there, there are communities looking for wind and solar farms because the tariff changes if it is in your area. You have a flexible system. The community benefit fund, which communities benefit from substantially, is turned into a tariff reduction for people in the area. We need a sophisticated billing and tariff system to do that. That needs to be done and should be done. It will help with buy-in. If I am in an area generating a lot of renewables, I should pay less in energy prices. That work will be done by CRU, ESB Networks and EirGrid. That will come out of the NEAT, which we will publish in the next couple of weeks.

I appreciate the Minister's engagement. People want to hear that if they are going to bear this infrastructure, they will be rewarded for it. At times, community benefit funds can be seen as a weapon used to divide communities. While they benefit communities overall, that does not make up for the households that are most immediately impacted. I welcome the Minister's engagement on that. I represent Galway. We are on the west coast. The wind is blowing all the time. How are we going to get offshore wind energy going in Galway? That is one of the big frustrations. A huge number of planning applications have gone in to hit the targets for onshore wind, but we are not seeing the same success with offshore wind, which I think will be more palatable for the people I represent.

Offshore wind is important. The first phase projects are all in planning. The bond was withheld on Sceirde, which was the scheme in Galway. I still think that area is viable. We are in the middle of work on a national DMAP, which is mapping all of the future sites. The focus is on getting the schemes out of planning. This week, I met one of the ORESS 1 developers of a scheme that is in planning. There has been a request for further information from An Coimisiún Pleanála. Many of those requests have been resubmitted. In the coming months, we expect to have some decisions from that. Our focus between now and 2030 is on getting as many of those schemes as possible into construction. Ireland is still a desirable place for offshore wind investment. That is why we had the only successful auction on offshore wind in the European Union last year, which was Tonn Nua. That was the only one. Taking Europe as a Continent, it was one of only two. There was allocation round 7, AR7, in Britain and Tonn Nua in Ireland. We need to show delivery on that. Planning has held that up. That is just a reality. I am not blaming anyone. We need to get those out of planning and into construction.