Warning that more Mayo families are facing energy poverty as calls for increased State intervention are made
Following reports that Ireland has the highest electricity prices in the EU, a Mayo councillor has called for greater State intervention to support households struggling with rising energy costs.
According to the latest figures from Eurostat, Ireland’s electricity prices stand at 40.42 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with an EU average of 28.96 cents.
As a result, the average Irish household pays €480 more per year for electricity than the EU average.
The pressure on households is due to increase as PrepayPower announced gas price hikes of 10.6pc and electricity increases of 8.8pc from the beginning of June, affecting around 240,000 customers.
Cllr Harry Barrett said many families are already under severe financial strain and warned that rising energy costs could push more households into energy poverty.
“People are struggling to pay their electricity bills. Mayo is no different to any other county,” he said. “There are many people on PrepayPower, and they have increased their charges.”
He also pointed to what he described as a contradiction between Mayo’s energy production and the lack of benefits felt by local residents.
Mayo, he said, is “covered in windfarms” yet there appears to be “no benefit for the ordinary person even with all the energy we are generating”.
Cllr Barrett called on the Government to introduce subsidised solar panels and home insulation schemes to help reduce household energy consumption and lower bills.
He said constituents have contacted him about difficulties accessing SEAI grants for solar panels and other energy-saving upgrades because applicants must pay upfront costs before receiving reimbursement.
“The Government have to do more to reduce these bills for people. They have to intervene and offer cut-price solar panels and cut-price insulation to reduce people’s energy usage right across the board,
“There has to be State intervention to make sure that every family has an equal opportunity to access insulation and solar panels to reduce their [electricity] usage,
“It's as simple as that, and we have a State sitting on its hands allowing the windfarm operators to suck up all of this energy we are creating,” he said.
Cllr Barrett also renewed concerns about a growing class of “working poor” in Mayo, people in employment who earn above the threshold for State supports but are increasingly unable to cope with rising living costs.
“We have a cohort of people who are bringing in between €34,000 to €75,000 - they are the working poor who pay for everything yet qualify for nothing,
“They should be offered State subsidised panels and State subsidised insulation. Any family in that category, they are the ones I am most worried about,” he explained.
Cllr Barrett said people are contacting him to report that, despite being in work, their paycheques are no longer stretching as far as they once did, leaving many “borrowing for the basics”.
“They are working, but when it comes to having a confirmation, a communication, or going back to school, they get nothing. They are struggling, they are borrowing, they are in the credit union,
“We need more State intervention, but with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, you don’t get State intervention,
“There is an awful lot more that can be done to reduce the cost of energy for young families, and for working-class families,” he said.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.