Brid Smith calls on ESB and Minister to provide “same support to households as they propose for business”
People before Profit TD Brid Smith has said a suggested scheme worth 75 million euro for businesses is the type of scheme that needs to be available for ordinary households.
Speaking as the ESB and Electric Ireland announced a new scheme in which business can avail of supports in order to reduce their GHG emission the TD said that the schemes key element was that it was “Budget neutral” for business, meaning they paid back the costs on the basis of savings in their energy bill as a result of investing in new equipment .
“ The same basic idea should be available to all households in the country; the state finances the upfront costs of retro fitting etc and the household repays it based on the savings in their energy bills”
The TD was critical of current Government policy on retro fitting “ Despite many announcements and plans the reality is the cost of retro fitting homes is beyond most people; they are faced with increased carbon taxes but have no way of changing their energy demands and reducing GHG emissions; the scheme proposed here for businesses is a prototype of the kind of scheme needed on a mass scale for ordinary people; only this type of policy could achieve the dramatic reductions on Co2 we need”
The TD said the scale of energy poverty was underestimated and the vast majority while wanting to tackle climate change were simply unable to change their personal behaviour; “Its time to stop lecturing people on personal behaviour and start supporting real alternatives for them”