The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, is very welcome back to the Chamber. Today I want to talk about vulnerable customers and the solar PV scheme for medically vulnerable customers. In January and February 2025 Storm Éowyn hit our country. I do not know whether too many people in the Chamber know that my area was very badly hit. My house was out of power for 13 nights. We have a very old demographic in our part of the country and a lot of these people were on a vulnerable user list. From engaging with these people, they do not feel they benefited any extra by being on this list. Vulnerable customers are defined as people who may be put at risk due to interruption of their electricity supply or gas supply, particularly those relying on electricity to operate life-supporting machines. Priority is given to people on life-protecting devices, assistive technology supporting independent living and medical devices. In trying to support these people, and ensure they are better prepared for future events, I came across the solar PV scheme for medically vulnerable customers. It is to include all homeowners who register with the energy suppliers under the life support category of the priority services register. These homes have dependence on electrically supplied equipment, including medical equipment, life-protecting devices and assistive technologies.

The solar PV scheme for medically vulnerable customers is a targeted initiative designed to support the installation of solar photovoltaic panels in households registered under the life support category of the priority services register. It was good to see that the scheme was extended last October. At the time, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, said 470 homes benefited from the scheme, and it was being extended to include eligible homeowners who are registered under the life support category of the priority services register. This is not a scheme that is very well known about. When we do a search we see that all the onus is on the electricity providers to engage with people on the register and find out about their eligibility, and then put them in contact with a solar provider to see whether the scheme will work for them. We have an opportunity to scale this up an awful lot further than this. We should be bringing it to the vulnerable users rather than putting the onus on them and the providers to do this.

One of the things I saw when I was looking up the scheme is that the majority of providers have online applications but, historically, vulnerable users are more limited in doing this particular job. I hope that through the Minister of State and the Department we can simplify the scheme and roll it out to an awful lot more people. I believe there is an appetite out there and the time is right to do it. Since Storm Éowyn last year my area has had ten or 12 power outages. I have spoken to people with ventilators and oxygen at home, and this is a real worry and stress point for them. It is great to see that a scheme is in place but I want the opportunity to highlight it and try to push it forward.

I thank Senator Scahill for raising what I believe it is a very important issue. As he has rightly identified, the solar PV for the medically vulnerable scheme is a targeted scheme for the installation, as he has identified, of solar photovoltaic panels for household customers who have registered on the life support category of the priority services register. These are homes that have a dependence on electrically powered equipment, including medical equipment, life-protecting devices and assistive technology. Examples include requiring dialysis machines, which we are all familiar with, or respirators. As such, these households may have a higher energy demand then the average user. The scheme is designed to go some way towards helping to reduce their energy costs but Senator Scahill has identified an equally important component, which is that it provides electricity when the grid in particular isolated areas is impacted through storms or other interruptions.

The scheme provides a fully funded 2 kW solar PV system for eligible households. This includes the survey, design, supply, installation and post works on the building energy rating. Senator Scahill is wondering about the progress to date. The scheme was launched in 2022, with an overall budget of approximately €20 million. The SEAI reports that 137 systems were installed in 2024 at a cost of almost €1.8 million. Last year about 473 systems were installed, with expenditure of about €2.4 million. We are ramping it up slowly. This year we will see a major expansion of delivery, with an allocation of €11.7 million. This is expected to deliver about 1,900 homes. To date in 2026 about €1.17 million has been spent, with 171 homes installed and a further 60 in the process of being completed. This shows that the pace of the deployment is ramping up.

Senator Scahill is raising the scheme and I hope that other Senators and Members of the Parliament will generally recognise the scheme. It is not necessarily widely known about. There are a lot of schemes that are oversubscribed but this one is not. We all know vulnerable users and we often use social media to promote certain schemes. This is one where all of us collectively could do a little bit more, considering specifically that the money is available.

Initially the scheme was limited to individuals who were on the life support category of the priority services register in 2022, when the scheme was launched, but due to the strong uptake and positive impact already observed the scheme is now in the process of being extended to include all homeowners who are registered on the life support category regardless of when they were registered. Customers are registered by their supplier and we are pushing the suppliers to do this.

Most energy suppliers have agreed to participate in the scheme, with some suppliers more advanced in their programmes than others. Each energy supplier will have their own arrangement with the SEAI on which they proceed with the installation of this, and it is dependent on the capacity of the suppliers' individual solar PV installers and, of course, the location because this adds to the burden. The scheme is wholly managed by the registered energy suppliers, with each of the suppliers contacting their own eligible customers directly, in line with the work plans of their solar PV installers.

It is important to note that suppliers, who manage the administrative aspects of the scheme under the SEAI, issue offers to eligible homeowners in batches, based on operational capacity. As regards the batch, obviously, the installers get the benefit of the grouping effect. Each participating supplier received an allocated amount of funding under its memorandum of understanding with the SEAI. Once the initial allocation is used, additional funding will be provided to ensure that all eligible households are offered access to the scheme within the budget allocation. Given the importance of the scheme and the fact that the expected spend this year will bring the total close to the overarching financial allocation, it is intended to commence a review of the scheme in 2026, towards budget 2027, and see how we can better advance the good work being done.

I thank the Senator for raising the matter. His raising it here will give further ventilation and amplification to a scheme that is very worthwhile.

Certainly, the Department could take that up with the SEAI to make sure there is a greater level of connection or communication between those potential beneficiaries. I think the Senator asked how many were on the register. My understanding is that there are about 18,000 in total. The 1,900 figure would represent about 10% of that, if my sums are close, so we still have a bit to go. Not everybody will want solar and not everybody will see it as beneficial, but the Senator has identified a need and has clearly identified the capacity for the scheme to deliver for some. We will make every effort to improve the communication to get as many people into the scheme as possible. As I said, the overall future of the scheme will be looked at in the context of budget 2027. Again, it is too early to establish that, but I think we have seen the benefits of the scheme. Let us hope it can be continued into the future. Even if we get them, we would probably be at 15% with the ones that were done back to 2022. That is a good start, and then we could ramp it up to get all those 18,000, or as many as wanted, onto the scheme.