Over 300,000 households in arrears on electricity bills

Kenneth Fox

There have been calls for support for consumers as a record number of people are behind on their energy bills.

A total of 301,000 households were in arrears on their electricity bills at the end of May.

Another 175,000 domestic gas customers and over 27,000 small firms were behind on their bills.

Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan told Newstalk that recent price increases by providers need to be addressed.

"We have been arguing for a permanent solution for years now, but they will still need those one-off supports until that starts to take effect," she said.

Ms Boylan recommended that network charges paid by everybody on their bills be reformed.

"Last month, the regulator announced they would increase the charge for households and small businesses," she said.

In a post on Facebook, the MEP said: "The government has no interest in cutting your energy bills. They’re happy to make you pay more, while cutting energy costs for data centres.

"Tackling energy costs to bring down the cost of living must be a priority for FF & FG in the new budget.

"300,000 people can’t afford for the government to keep sitting on their hands about this," the post said.