News
Irish pay as you go scheme falters
![Pictured at the pay as you go launch in 2012 (l-r) Charles Burns, commercial director Kingspan Environmental; David Blevings, OFTEC’s Ireland manager; Nelson McCausland; Philip Browne, brand director, Kingspan Environmental; and Jillian Ferris, client and stakeholder director of Carillion Energy Services](https://fueloilnews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Irish-2-Pay-as-you-go-for-heating-oil-customers1-150x150.jpg)
Rolled out in February 2012, the scheme – partnered by Kingspan Renewables and Carillion Energy – involved the installation of meters at 17 low income households across three counties in Northern Ireland.
Social development minister, Nelson McCausland, pulled plans to continue the scheme saying: “The results of the pilot were disappointing regarding the proportion of participants benefiting from lower oil costs.
“There are two crucial issues around the cost and delivery of introducing a pay-as-you-go oil system into the department’s mainstream energy efficiency improvement schemes:
(1) Costs associated with production and administration of the pay-as-you-go oil scheme.
(2) And, who will supply the oil to the customer?
Departmental economists have serious concerns about the feasibility of the pay-as-you-go oil scheme from a cost/benefit perspective.
“I have considered all of the information available and concluded that it’s not feasible to introduce the scheme into my department’s energy efficiency improvements’ schemes.”