There will be a €100 off for the first electricity bill for every private household in Ireland under a new plan proposed by the government. The move comes following a CSO report which stated that the inflation in the country is the highest in last two decades and the energy cost is still rising.
According to a report by the Journal, a memo will go to Cabinet on Tuesday outlining the measures government will take to reduce household energy bills. The one-off €100 electricity credit will cover the first two months of the year. The final details of how the scheme will operate will be worked out over the weekend.
“These are currently under consideration. We would certainly like to do something to help with electricity bills and perhaps also gas bills,” Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said yesterday.
“We hope to be in a position to make a decision on that in the near future so that people will see the effects of that decision in the bills they receive being a little bit lower than expected in the new year,” he said.
Meanwhile the plan is likely to face criticism from opposition as it can be seen as a tricky move to make people less furious about the price hikes in the country. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported yesterday that Irish consumer prices were 5.3% higher in November than a year ago — the largest annual change in prices since 2001.
Prices increased by 0.6% within the month of November, marking the 13th consecutive month of inflation.
The annual increase is mostly being driven mainly by soaring diesel and petrol prices as well as electricity bills and gas bills, according to the latest Consumer Price Index.
Housing, electricity, water, gas and home heating prices jumped an overall 12% in the year and just over 0.2% in November alone.
Electricity prices had increased by almost 5% in the month, up nearly 21% over the 12 months, according to the figures.