I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 to provide for the utilisation of curtailed and constrained renewable electricity in order to support the achievement of the national climate objective and carbon budgets, to advance a just transition, and to reduce energy poverty by facilitating access to lowercost renewable electricity for eligible electricity customers; and to provide for related matters.
This Bill has a very simple objective. It is to stop the wastage of renewable energy and help people reduce their electricity bills. One in seven households is in arrears on their electricity bills and, as of yesterday, electricity has gone up again, with Electric Ireland, the State’s largest energy provider, putting its prices up by 8%. For the average household, this will add €138 to their electricity bill. Electric Ireland has about 1.1 million customers across the State, so a huge number of people are going to be impacted by this price hike. At this point, it is well known that Ireland has the highest electricity prices in Europe, with us paying 40% more than the EU average. This usually costs around €480 per year for an average household. People across the country are really struggling to make ends meet and, considering these figures, it is not hard to see why.
Yet, at the very same time, huge amounts of renewable energy are just being wasted. There are wind turbines all over this country that are being switched off because our electricity grid cannot manage the energy that they would be producing. In some cases, this is due to limitations on the grid while in others it is because the wider electricity system cannot absorb the energy safely. No matter the reason, renewable energy that could be used is being thrown away. This costs us approximately €500 million per year and, amazingly, some of that actually ends up being paid through individual electricity bills. While people in Ireland are in arrears on their bills, struggling to make ends meet, and faced with the highest electricity prices in Europe, they are also paying to switch wind farms off. There is something really wrong with a system where renewable energy is being wasted while people struggle to heat their homes, and I think that is something we could all probably agree on.
Now, there are ways of dealing with this. We could have every immersion in the country programmed to switch on at night and use that energy. We could do it the way Germany does it, by using electric vehicles as quasi batteries to store the energy. We could indeed just put large-scale batteries on every wind farm to store that energy rather than wasting it. The technology is there but the Government, for some reason, is stubbornly refusing to actually consider it.
The Prevention of Energy Wastage Bill 2026 seeks to address this issue and prevent that electricity wastage from happening. This Bill amends the climate Act to provide a statutory basis for the utilisation of renewable electricity that would otherwise be wasted due to electricity system curtailment or constraint. In short, this Bill would force the Minister to do something with that energy, such as to provide it to households at low cost or to people at risk of energy poverty for free. The Bill itself prioritises vulnerable households, those at risk of energy poverty, and community benefit projects. This is not a new idea, nor is it the first Bill to come to the Dáil on the issue of renewable energy wastage. Two Fianna Fáil TDs brought one forward about two years ago, the Energy Poverty Reduction (Use of Surplus Renewable Energy) Bill 2025. This issue is clearly recognised across parties and there are even provisions for it in the programme for Government. I really hope this Bill will receive cross party support but not just support. I want to see this Bill actioned. I want to see people's electricity prices come down and I want to see us using the renewable electricity we can produce for the benefit of people in this country.
EnergyCloud has examined this issue in detail, of the scale of surplus electricity on the grid. It has proposed mechanisms through which the wasted energy could be redirected, and its work has formed the basis of much of this Bill. I would like to thank EnergyCloud for its advocacy on this really important issue and for its support in the development of this Bill.
This Bill is really an opportunity for us all as legislators and as representatives of our communities to support households, to tackle energy poverty, to reduce waste and to make better use of the renewable resources that are available to us. I really hope that will be recognised across the Oireachtas and that this Bill will be supported.