{"id":2038,"date":"2023-02-20T12:27:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T12:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/whitmore-to-introduce-bill-to-protect-financially-vulnerable-consumers-from-disconnections\/"},"modified":"2023-02-20T12:27:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T12:27:38","slug":"whitmore-to-introduce-bill-to-protect-financially-vulnerable-consumers-from-disconnections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/whitmore-to-introduce-bill-to-protect-financially-vulnerable-consumers-from-disconnections\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitmore to introduce Bill to protect financially vulnerable consumers from disconnections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Government has failed to deliver on commitment in Energy Poverty Action Plan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore will introduce a Bill tomorrow (Tuesday, February 21) proposing new legislation to protect financially vulnerable customers from energy disconnections.<\/p>\n

Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on Energy, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government\u2019s new Energy Poverty Action Plan, published last December, promised legislation to extend the definition of vulnerable customers to include financial vulnerability. By putting this definition on a legislative footing, low-income households would have greater protection against supply disconnection due to non-payment of bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current definition only relates to medical vulnerability and does not take consumers\u2019 financial circumstances into account.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now two months into 2023 and there is still no sign of this legislation. Due to the Government\u2019s inaction on the issue, I have now decided to bring my own Bill before the D\u00e1il tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike the promised windfall tax, this is yet another example of the Government delaying key measures that could help insulate consumers from spiralling energy prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that we cannot protect vulnerable customers if we don\u2019t have a clear definition of what vulnerability means. As a result of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, we have no idea how long this energy crisis will last. It is therefore vital that financially vulnerable consumers are assured that they will be able to keep the lights on and heat their homes if their energy accounts fall into arrears.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government should be planning for future energy shocks instead of constantly reacting to the crisis.”<\/p>\n

February 20, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Government has failed to deliver on commitment in Energy Poverty Action Plan Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore will introduce a Bill tomorrow (Tuesday, February 21) proposing new legislation to protect financially vulnerable customers from energy disconnections. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on Energy, said: \u201cThe Government\u2019s new Energy Poverty Action Plan, published last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhitmore to introduce Bill to protect financially vulnerable consumers from disconnections - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/whitmore-to-introduce-bill-to-protect-financially-vulnerable-consumers-from-disconnections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whitmore to introduce Bill to protect financially vulnerable consumers from disconnections - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Government has failed to deliver on commitment in Energy Poverty Action Plan Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore will introduce a Bill tomorrow (Tuesday, February 21) proposing new legislation to protect financially vulnerable customers from energy disconnections. 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