Affordable Energy Strategy
- The Government is committed to ensuring that all householders can afford to live in a warm home, and while much has been achieved in recent years to advance this through a combination of institutional supports, programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock and energy awareness initiatives, it is now timely to publish an Affordable Energy Strategy. The Strategy has been developed by an the Inter-Departmental/Agency Group on Affordable Energy and can be downloaded here along with a supporting technical annex.
The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable consumers from the impact of rising energy costs through a combination of institutional supports and investment in improving the energy efficiency of the housing stock.
The Department has established an Inter Departmental/Agency Group with Department of Social Protection, and which includes the Departments of Finance, Taoiseach, Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Health and Children, the Commission for Energy Regulation, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), ESB and Bord Gáis. The Group is serving as a key coordinating body to ensure cohesiveness of the various actions under way and planned to address the energy efficiency and affordability challenges for vulnerable consumers.
One of the root causes of fuel poverty is the legacy of older housing with poor energy efficiency standards. The Department funds SEAI’s Low Income Housing Programme which is now part of Better Energy. The scheme provides energy efficiency equipment and insulation as well as energy efficiency advice at little or no cost to eligible households.
Visit Well and Warm for further information.
Government policy has focused in recent years on increasing primary social welfare rates to ensure that people on social welfare can meet their basic living costs, including heating costs throughout the year. The Minister for Social and Family Affairs provides a range of supplements and allowances, including the Electricity/Gas Allowance and the National Fuel Allowance, to assist those most in need with their heating costs.
Visit Fuel Allowance for further information
There are currently no comprehensive up to date national statistics available on the number of people experiencing fuel poverty in Ireland. The EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions, which is carried out by the Central Statistics Office each year, measures the number of households that have gone without heating at least once, over the previous year, due to lack of money. The most recent figures available from this survey indicate that in 2006, some 5.7% of households in Ireland went without heat at some stage during the year, a slight reduction on 2005.
| The Department has collaborated with a number of other Departments and Agencies to produce - Keep Well and Warm, a booklet that offers advice on keeping healthy. To request a copy please email ann-marie.hayes@dcenr.ie or visit Well and warm |