COMMERCIAL FEATURE
The issue of untaxed solid fuel remains a serious threat to the industry The Hardware Journal asked Eddie Scaife, CEO, Solid Fuel Trade Group, www.sftg.ie to outline current thinking in the solid fuel industry from their perspective. With carbon tax receipts for solid fuel for last winter (20/21) indicating a growth of approximately 20% over the previous year (19/20) this is a reflection of the increase in carbon tax charged, rather than an indication of volume growth. Earlier this year the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) launched a public consultation on the development of new Solid Fuel Regulations for Ireland. There were over 3,500 individual responses as well as detailed technical responses from over 30 parties. Interestingly, 69% of respondents, as reported by DECC, reported that they were NOT in favour of a national regulation on solid fuels. However, the Minister has now announced new standards for domestic solid fuels which will be introduced across the State and plans to have them in place before September 2022. The new regulations will be finalised in the coming months but already both the timeline and the practical implementation look very challenging. In summary the new standards propose that: •
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All coal and related products nationwide, including manufactured solid fuel and peat briquettes will be required to emit less than 10g of smoke per hour when burned, reducing to 5g by 2025. The sulphur content permitted for all fuels (currently 2%) will also be halved over time. Products will be certified and labelled by suppliers to ensure they can be easily identified. Wood sold for heating will have to have a moisture content of 25% or less reducing to 20% within 4 years, while wet wood will come with instructions to the purchaser about how to dry it. There will be no ban on sod peat harvesting or burning. However, a regulatory regime to reduce its use in more urbanised areas is under examination. A new Public Awareness Campaign focusing on simple steps people can take when using domestic fires in the winter ahead is being launched.
One in eight households or 600,000 people in Ireland are dependent on solid fuel as their primary form of home heat. When these proposed standards are combined with the impacts of increased carbon taxes the impacts on those living in fuel poverty will be considerable – and necessitate greater financial supports from the Government, especially for those living in rural areas where fuel poverty is most concentrated. More detail is needed on how the impact on the fuel poor will be addressed. Concern remains over how tests will be performed to determine emission levels and most importantly how the new standards will be enforced given obvious failures to date. The issue of untaxed solid fuel remains a serious threat to the industry and the proposed new fuel standards will not address this problem. The latest tranche of carbon tax on solid fuel came into effect in May this year. The impact of carbon tax on a 40kg bag of coal is now ¤3.53 and ¤0.77 on a bale of peat briquettes. The programme for Government commits to increasing carbon tax to ¤100 per tonne by 2030, through annual increases of ¤7.50 per annum to 2029 and ¤6.50 in 2030. The issue is raised time and again by public and industry representatives but as yet an effective mechanism to curtail this activity has yet to be found. With rising carbon taxes and higher VAT in Ireland and no equivalent taxes and lower VAT in N Ireland this problem is likely to get worse. Every effort must be made to bring a workable solution to this problem. Strong and consistent enforcement of existing environmental and tax regulation is essential if the solid fuel industry in Ireland is to continue to play its vital role in supporting households across the country.
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September/October 2021
