Consumers need help to convert to renewables

The Government has a problem with renewables, and the current crisis is throwing it into sharp relief. It’s not that this and previous governments repeatedly failed to allow for the investment required in our grid infrastructure or been willing to see it through over the protests of vested interests, though all that is true. It is more that they offer crumbs of incentives to consumers that they must know can never drive the green revolution they preach.

If anything the current grants for switching to electric cars and retrofitting homes only serve to highlight the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. Only the (relatively) wealthy can afford to pay the balance left over to avail of them.

There are whole swathes of people in this State who never buy a new car – many of them on cost grounds – never mind an electric vehicle that costs even more. That’s before even taking into account the cost of the charging point they need to install to run it.

Similarly, Minister Eamon Ryan can chivvy people up all he likes on the importance of retrofitting homes to help counter climate change but a maximum SEAI grant of €2,400 will still leave most people looking at bills of up to €16,500 to provide enough energy to power the home and those electric vehicle chargers. Even before inflation surged most people did not have that sort of money at their disposal.

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It’s not that people are unwilling. With energy bills multiplying this year because of Russian retaliation to sanctions and a power grid that struggles to accommodate renewables, families are desperate for ways to cut the cost. And that’s before they face the prospect of potential blackouts this winter.

The Government is right to encourage people to play their part in protecting the future of our planet – to say nothing about helping to wean Europe off its addiction to Russian gas and oil – but they need to show some imagination in doing so. And it doesn’t have to involve freebies. Within the limitations of the workers available to do the jobs, a very low or ideally zero interest rate loan would give people the finance to fund these green projects, with families able to make the repayments from the savings on their current energy or petrol bills.

That would be a real investment in our future.