PSO levy on energy bills set to be scrapped to ease pressure on households

An information campaign is expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks advising the public on how to reduce their energy bills.

The public service obligation (PSO) levy on energy bills is expected to be scrapped as part of Government measures aimed at addressing inflation.

A cost-of-living package, due to be unveiled in the week beginning April 11, is unlikely to include any immediate financial supports, and instead households will be asked to change their own behaviour.

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan is working on a list of short- and longer-term measures to help with soaring inflation, which will be ready for Cabinet next week.

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan. Picture: Maxwells

It is expected that the PSO on energy bills will be reduced to zero or slightly negative. This would see around €57 a year taken from energy bills, but the reduction will not be introduced until the beginning of October.

In addition, Mr Ryan is working on ramping up the installation of smart meters, providing more people with the opportunity to use cheaper rates for their electricity at off-peak hours.

He wants to make time-of-day usage tariffs mandatory, with an opt-out clause. It is hoped that this change would not only provide householders with control over when they will use their electricity, but it will also help spread the load of electricity required at peak times, thus making its production cheaper for everyone.

"It would require a smart meter," said Mr Ryan. 

Some 750,000 houses in the country have got one, and we are rapidly rolling it out — about half of houses by the end of this year will have it, three quarters by next year."

Mr Ryan also met with the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in recent days and has asked that fuel poverty measures be identified, as protecting the most vulnerable households is the Government’s priority.

An information campaign is expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks advising the public on how changes in household behaviour can bring down energy bills.

The CRU is now examining measures to make debt repayment more manageable and to ensure that vulnerable customers are always put on the best tariff available.

In the medium term, an ESRI modelling study will feed into budget decisions around increases to social welfare payments.

However, there are no plans in Government to defer the carbon tax increase that is due next month.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald addressing a recent party election event in Belfast. Picture: Sinn Fein/PA Wire

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has called for a mini-budget to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

"We have argued for a long time with the Government that there needs to be constant vigilance and a speed in responding to the crisis that's facing households right across the State," she said.

I think there are so many families now that are just getting by and that live in what I would describe as a permanent state of panic as the bills land on the mat, and a fear of anything further going wrong in their household finances."

Sinn Féin has proposed a €1.4bn package of measures to further support people with increasing costs, which Ms McDonald said could be provided without extra borrowing.

But she told RTÉ Radio 1: "In the course of bringing forward a mini budget, we are very open to the notion of measures that are revenue-raising. We're very conscious that we have to keep the State's books in good order."