I visited the PrepayPower website this morning.

The website states: "If you do not keep your PPP PAYG [PrepayPower pay-as-you-go] Meter topped up with credit, it will self-disconnect and your electricity supply will cut off." On vulnerable customers, it states that:

The CRU has put in place a rule whereby [registered] Vulnerable Customers cannot be disconnected for non-payment of [arrears] during winter months. [This applies to both gas and electricity.] It is important that all of our customers ... categorised as Vulnerable ... understand that this rule cannot apply to them whilst on our [pay-as-you-go] supply.

This is five days after the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications met representatives of this company and hailed the exchanges as a result for prepay customers. Are there minutes of this meeting? Can we see them please?

While I am at it, if energy companies are being spoken to as stakeholders, why is the Minister not also speaking to pay-as-you-go customers? Are they not stakeholders too or are some stakeholders more important than others? The Minister might learn a thing or two if he bothered to speak to customers. He might hear about the households that never stock the freezer up full for fear of the electricity going off. He might hear about the housing estates where security alarms go off every Friday in homes that cannot afford to top up their electricity before payday. He might hear about the contempt people have for the phrase "self-disconnect", which trips so easily from the lips of energy bosses and some Government Deputies these days.

I am sure the Taoiseach has realised this but I will spell it out for him just in case he has not; the news is not good for him or his Government if the moratorium does not mean a moratorium for all and unless there are zero disconnections this winter. If that does not happen, the personal stories of people who have been disconnected will be read aloud every day in this Chamber and his promise that there will be no disconnections will come back to haunt him. Is this what he wants in the run-up to 15 December? Is this what the Tánaiste wants in the days following that date? It is now time to go harder with these energy companies. I await the Taoiseach's reply to the questions.

The Government does not want disconnections this winter above all else. As the Deputy said, for winter 2022 the usual one-month pause on disconnections for non-payment has been extended to three months, from 1 December 2022 until 28 February 2023. For vulnerable customers, the pause on disconnections for non-payment has been extended to six months, from 1 October 2022 until 31 March 2023. I understand that work is now being progressed by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to waive the fee to enable people to switch from pay-as-you-go to bill pay in order to avail of the protections for vulnerable customers.

The Minister has met industry representatives. The understanding is that it is an industry standard not to disconnect at weekends. Emergency credit is available to get people through until they can again purchase credit. In respect of engagement, the entire objective is that no-one will be disconnected and emergency credits can be made available. The most recent additional protections that have been put in place by the CRU in respect of pay-as-you-go include debt repayment levels being reduced from 10% from a previous rate of 25% and the €20 top-up, for example. These are additional protections by the CRU but in terms of social protection, the additional needs payment is always there for anybody who is in difficulty in order for them to get additional funding to top up, as well as engaging with the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, which also has a pattern of engagement with the energy companies.

As part of their codes of practice, companies do not want to disconnect anybody and there is a way to prevent that. There are also the budget measures we introduced, which are quite significant, between now and the end of the year. The annual cost-of-living double payment will commence on 17 October from which approximately 1.4 million people will benefit.

A double child benefit payment will be made on 1 November to 639,000 families in respect of 1.2 million children. The fuel allowance lump sum of €400 will be paid the week commencing 14 November and 371,000 people will benefit from that. A payment of €200 will be made to people who are in receipt of the living alone allowance, commencing on 14 November. A €500 cost-of-living payment will be made to those in receipt of the working family payment. These payments will commence on 14 November and 44,000 people will benefit. A disability support grant of €500 will commence payment on 14 November. A further 216,000 people will benefit from that. There is also a €500 carer's support grant to be paid in the week commencing on 21 November. The entirety of the measures we provided for in the budget and which will be rolled out and paid out to people from now until the end of the year will provide strong capacity and back-up to people who are in difficulty in respect of income or anything else in topping up their payment mechanisms.

Those measures will get many pay-as-you-go customers through this winter, no doubt, but will they get all pay-as-you-go customers through the winter? I do not believe that is the case nor do I believe the Taoiseach believes it to be the case either. He said that the fee has been waived for pay-as-you-go customers who want to transfer to bill-pay if they are vulnerable. That is very good but it is for medically vulnerable people. The fee has been waived for people who have sleep apnoea and need to use a CPAP machine at night but what about people who are financially vulnerable? What about people who are living in poverty? As of now, such people do not have the right to transfer from pay-as-you-go to bill-pay without paying penalties. These penalties are very considerable. Does the Taoiseach know what the penalty charge for pay-as-you-go customers who are financially vulnerable and living in poverty and who want to switch to bill-pay is? It is €199. The charges have been removed for those who are medically vulnerable. Will they be removed for those who are financially vulnerable? Will they be removed for all? This has to be a moratorium for all and not just for some.

We have identified a whole range of measures that will be paid out from now until Christmas that will help the financially vulnerable. Substantial payments are being made which should help people not to get into difficulty with their pay-as-you-go bill. That said, the additional needs payment is there. Anybody who is financially vulnerable should engage with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, and with the additional needs section to ensure they get the resources so they are not in a debt situation in respect of their pay-as-you-go service and to get it resolved. We will continue to engage with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to ensure there are protections over the winter period against anybody being disconnected. It is our view and the view of the industry that this is not standard practice. If the Deputy has material to bring to our attention in respect of vulnerable customers with whom he is contact, I will gladly receive it. We can use it to work on further solutions. However, across the board, from the CRU protections to the budgetary welfare announcements we have made and the various supports we are providing and the social protection additional needs scheme that is in place with MABS, we believe we can protect people from being disconnected.