Households facing 'mountains' of energy bill arrears

Appearing before the Oireachtas environment committee on the issue of energy poverty, representatives from charity St Vincent de Paul said  many households are facing multiple energy bills they cannot clear before the next one comes through.

Households could head into next winter already saddled with "mountains" of energy bill arrears and will need “somewhere to turn to”, politicians have been warned.

Advocates also said it was clear “one-off measures will not work” and targeted policies will be needed to support vulnerable households in the future.

Appearing before the Oireachtas environment committee on the issue of energy poverty, representatives from charity St Vincent de Paul said  many households are facing multiple energy bills they cannot clear before the next one comes through.

Figures from the  Central Statistics Office from 2021 indicate 8.7% of those in the lowest 20% of income distribution were in arrears on utilities twice or more in the previous year.

Earlier this month, the committee was given figures from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) that showed the number of domestic gas customers in Ireland in arrears rose from 18% to 23% in 12 months.

This amounted to 160,399 gas customers in arrears as of the end of March — almost 25,000 more compared to the same period last year.

There were also 199,790 electricity customers in arrears.

SVP research and policy officer Issy Petrie told the committee that without further intervention, people will be going into next winter with repayments "still hanging over their heads".

"In terms of the size of the bills, we would see bills in the high hundreds or higher, or in the region of €1,000. A particular concern that we're seeing now is the multiple bill cycles coming through from winter," she said.

A bill of €600 would have been so unusual previously, and now it's kind of becoming a multiple occurrence for people and that just becomes kind of an insurmountable, sort of mountain of arrears for people, so that's why it's so urgent to get this tackled now."

She said there was a risk of "really, really significant levels of debt" being concentrated among people who are least able to afford it, because of health requirements or their homes not being energy efficient.

Ms Petrie said they would also hear "a lot" from prepay customers who had asked the charity for help, and who face "self-disconnection" when they have no money left to put in the meter.

The committee also heard from Social Justice Ireland, with research and policy analyst Michelle Murphy saying one-off measures, such as the emergency electricity credit, were inadequate at addressing the root causes of energy poverty.

“That is why we are very clear on the issue of benchmarking to 27.5% of average weekly earnings, a €25 minimum increase in core welfare rates and then indexation to the minimum essential budget standards,” she said.

Her colleague Suzanne Rogers said if people could not commit to repayments within the timeframe being offered, they face disconnection from their energy supplier.

"It puts people under enormous pressure because if you don't sit within this plan, you'll get disconnected," she said.

"I think it does put pressure on people to agree to plans that maybe are pushing them to the edge.” 

In relation to retrofitting and its cost, Clare O'Connor, from Friends of the Earth, said Fine Gael TD and former minister Richard Bruton's suggestion of low-interest loans from credit unions was a good idea.

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"I would go as far as proposing zero-interest loans which has been introduced for low-income households in both Germany and the Netherlands," she said.

"On the point on expanding eligibility for the free retrofitting schemes, we are suggesting that tenants who are on the Hap [Housing Assistance Payment] be included in the [Better Energy Warmer Homes] scheme on the condition of long-term lease being offered."