Energy Poverty: Saturday with Cormac O’ hEadhra, RTÉ Radio 1

EnergyCloud welcomed the opportunity to discuss with Cormac Ó h’Eadhra the enormous amounts of wasted renewable energy (€523m in 2025) that the Government is allowing to occur, while over 320,000 people are in arrears on their bills and over 550,000 are in energy poverty.  It is an unnecessary and needless scandal that so many people are struggling while on average over €1.4m of renewable energy is being wasted every day.

Despite it being in the Programme for Government, no action has been taken by the Government on using the surplus renewable energy that is being wasted to help those in energy poverty, none.  While the Minister points to NEAT (National Energy Affordability Taskforce) and claims they are working on this issue, the Department confirmed at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Energy in December that they will not report until July 2026 with an eye to the budget.  In other words, NEAT will take no action on using the waste to help those in energy poverty until at least the budget.  By then an additional €500m will have been wasted while hundreds of thousands of people continue to needlessly struggle with their energy bills.

We call on the Minister and the Government to take political leadership and urgently announce a strategy to begin to use the waste and once he does this we would be delighted to work with him and his officials on exactly how to use the waste.

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