Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan has said that households will need to fork out an extra €321 to cover energy bills this winter as a result of the government scrapping energy credits in the budget – despite their own data showing record energy bills.
Figures discovered by the Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin through Freedom Of Information show that the case for energy credits was stronger this year than last year – yet the government chose not to provide them.
Last year, households had an estimated energy bill of €1,556 on average.
This year, that figure has risen to €1,877, the extra €321 between the two figures are what households must cover themselves in the absence of an energy credit.
Figures from the department also show that the energy costs are still €205 higher than the peak of the energy crisis in 2022 when adjusted for inflation.
According to Boylan, all of this makes it clear that the government has put politics before people without the threat of an election looming.
MEP Boylan said:
“In last year’s budget, before the general election, the government funded energy credits.
“Despite bills being higher this year than they were during the peak of the energy crisis, the government has walked away and left households to make up the €321 shortfall.
“What’s even worse is that a targeted energy scheme plan for this budget was drawn up, but it was withheld from my FOIs because the government claim ‘it would not be in the public interest to share this information’.
“It is abundantly clear that the government decision to scrap energy credits in this budget has been driven by political convenience, not the real political data.”
MEP Boylan also hit out at the government claims of ‘targeted supports’, pointing out that they shelved the only real plan for targeted measures, while handing out a VAT cut that benefitted millionaires far more than ordinary workers.
She added:
“These figures show that scrapping the energy credits was a deeply cynical move by a government that has run out of ideas.”
