The latest CRU energy arrears figures for May show a record high number of households were in energy arrears.
The figures show that 328,273 were in electricity arrears, while 188,941 were in gas arrears, leaving 517,214 household accounts in some form of energy arrears.
These figures have been slammed as “utterly appalling” by Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin.
Lynn said that the problem goes even deeper than the already stark headline would suggest, pointing to the data on the amount of arrears owed by each household, and the amount of time that households are spending in arrears.
“The latest figures are a new high since records began, and show that the lack of government support are consistently making this situation worse.
“The number of accounts in arrears for more than 90 days has also increased for both electricity and gas bills, with 188,748 for electricity, and 142,090 for gas, both increased on the figures from this time last year.
“Furthermore, the amount of money owed on electricity arrears has climbed to an average of €512.02, while the amount for gas arrears figure has climbed to €223.57, both of which has increased 65% and 45% respectively since 2022.
“It’s also extremely concerning that the number of electricity customers disconnected for non-payment had increased by 138, while there was also 46 domestic gas disconnections.
Lynn said that these figures paint a grim picture of the reality facing thousands of families across the state, but also of the fact that the situation isn’t getting better.
“The number of accounts in electricity arrears increased by 26,894, or 8.9% from last year, while the number in gas arrears increased by 14,050, or 8.0%.
“To have another new record number of people in debt on their energy bills is an utterly appalling statistic.
“The government needs to use the upcoming budget to deliver desperately needed supports for households that are being crippled by Irelands sky high energy costs.
“Longer term, they must use Ireland’s presidency of the EU to drive forward badly needed improvements to our grid, and our renewable generation, to tackle this issue at the source.”
