Liquid Gas Ireland (LGI) has expressed its concern on the exclusion of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) from a new scheme announced by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment aimed at assisting businesses impacted by significant energy increases.
The new scheme is due to utilise unspent funds from the previously announced Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS). In developing the scheme, the Government declared that it would consider options to compensate businesses that use both kerosene and LPG for their energy needs.
Commenting, LGI Policy Director, Philip Hannon said: “Restricting this long-awaited scheme to kerosene users only represents a significant blow for the thousands of businesses that rely on LPG, particularly those located off the natural gas grid in rural Ireland. For many businesses, especially those operating in the hospitality sector, LPG is the most viable lower carbon energy source to address their energy needs. To deny these businesses the option of applying for support to help ease their energy costs is an unbalanced decision by Government.
“We know that the details of the new scheme are still to be worked out across various Government departments and are due to be announced in the autumn. In the meantime, we urge the Government to relook at the scope of the scheme to ensure that business users of LPG are not discriminated against,” Mr Hannon added.