A moratorium on electricity and gas disconnections is in place for this winter. For most customers, the moratorium will be place from the beginning of December to the end of February. For vulnerable customers, the moratorium will apply from October to March. While this moratorium is very welcome, does it apply to all electricity and gas customers? Approximately 10% of electricity users now use the pay-as-you-go system. That would approximate to approximately 200,000 homes. For low-income households, the percentage will be higher; I suspect much higher. One constituent I spoke to last night estimated that every second house in her estate uses the pay-as-you-go system. For the purposes of this contribution, I am going to call this constituent Noreen. It is not her real name.

Noreen lives on the north side of Cork city with her husband and three kids. She is spending €100 a week on electricity, gas and heating her home. She spends €20 a week on blocks and briquettes for the stove. She uses pay-as-you-go for her electricity, which costs €50 per week to top up. She uses pay-as-you-go for her gas, which costs €30 a week to top up. Noreen goes to Centra once a week to buy those top-ups. When she is down to the last €2 on her credit, a beep goes off in the house. When she is down to zero, the beep goes off again. She is then allowed €10 emergency credit. If this runs out before she tops up, she is disconnected. What will happen this winter if Noreen’s emergency credit runs out and she cannot afford to top up? Will the emergency credit be extended and, if so, will it be extended without limits? Will she and others in the same situation be cut off? I would appreciate a reply to that. There are many people asking this question who would like to hear the official position on it.

As the Deputy mentioned in his contribution, the moratorium on disconnection applies to the end of February for the vast majority of customers and to the end of March for the most vulnerable. Ideally, it should apply to everyone. Thinking through the Deputy’s question, it is difficult to know how one would apply that in the case of pay-as-you-go customers just because of the nature of how pay-as-you-go works. The Government can help, however, and it wants to help the kind of people the Deputy mentioned.

How can we help? As the Deputy knows, there will be a fuel allowance cash payment that people in receipt of the fuel allowance will receive in the next couple of weeks. In addition, we are extending eligibility for the fuel allowance to many more people. That will kick in from the new year, subsequent to the social welfare Bill being passed by this House. A double social welfare payment will be paid in the next few weeks. For people not in receipt of social welfare, there will be a double child benefit payment and a double working family payment. That will help people with their essential bills a lot. An energy credit of €200 will be paid before Christmas and a further two credits, each for €200, will be paid after Christmas. These credits will run through to March. Then there are the emergency needs payments that are available from the community welfare service.

That is the kind of help the Government is offering in the round. I hope that answers the Deputy’s question in terms of what we can do to help people who are pay-as-you-go customers. I have outlined many different actions. The Deputy asked whether we can do it without limits. I do not think so. I do think we can say to anyone that we can cover the cost of their electricity or gas without limits. No matter who it is, I do not think that would be reasonable or right.

I am gobsmacked by the Tánaiste’s reply. He said that ideally, it should apply to everybody. However, that implies, and he clearly indicated, that it does not apply to everybody. Who are the people it does not apply to? They are the people who have been disconnected in the past and put onto the meters and are, in many cases, the lower-income people in society. Many of them are vulnerable individuals. The Tánaiste stated that there is the fuel allowance, the community welfare officer and energy credits. That will be fine; it will get many of those people through the winter. However, it will not get all of them through the winter; in fact, there is a significant number of them who it will not get through the winter. The Tánaiste is saying that they face the prospect of their electricity supply being disconnected - not just for themselves and their partners, but for their kids. That is a scandal.

The Tánaiste asked what can be done. During Covid, the emergency credit on gas was extended well beyond the usual amount. That is something that could be done. There could be a commitment given that there will be no disconnections this winter and that this will apply, not for some but for all. That is what I am asking for.

The Deputy makes a fair point. It is something that I can undertake to examine in conjunction with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys. We need to find a mechanism to protect pay-as-you-go customers. It is gas bills in particular that will present a difficulty over the next few months. We may see electricity prices falling or at least stabilising. The changes in the European rules around how electricity is calculated will help, as will the energy credit. However, gas bills could be particularly high over the next couple of months.

As we both mentioned, the Government is helping in many ways. It is doing so through the fuel allowance, other social welfare payments, the energy credit and the exceptional needs payments. As the Deputy acknowledged, that will be enough for the vast majority of pay-as-you-go customers throughout the winter. However, if there are particular hardship cases, we need to find a mechanism to help the people involved. I will undertake to speak to the Ministers for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Social Protection about precisely that matter.

We will return to this.