Louth County Council
How do we know this information?
Louth made a professional and comprehensive reply to our FoI request. They did not register that we were using the EU Directive so denied some of our requests and we had to write back pointing out that these exemptions did not exist under the EU Directive. One of the better Councils but not have a comprehensive plan for the energy transition.
Summary of County Louth
Energy Efficiency Louth County Council does have an impressive energy efficiency campaign which is now delivering €369,722.00 pa.
Income from renewables It has €100,267.37 income from municipal gas pa. But it has no investments in PV/wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils. See West Suffolk
Rates; Rates from Energy in Co. Louth was nearly 11% of total rates. Only about €53,000 came from renewables – one of the lowest in the Republic. Plus €703,000 from gas networks and €2,385,936 from the National Grid. Louth has the same financial systems problems as other Southern Councils. They cannot ‘see’ other forms of renewable energy in their area.
Their 11% could be a higher proportion of overall property/rates income. See N.I. example here. It is likely they do not realize how positive renewables and energy in general are for their finances. See ideas for fixing the coding issues in their financial systems here see Donegal Council for solution.
Organised Plan The Council appears to have no plans to maximise the financial benefits to itself of the energy transition. The Council seemed unaware that rates from ‘green energy jobs’ and renewables are likely to increase at least six fold and could pay for the local costs of Climate Change. Louth is situated on key energy North/South links and well situated to capitalise on the energy revolution.
See the breakdown summary of the Council here:
| Annual € | |
| Rates Income from Renewable Energy Projects | €53,000 |
| Income from renewable energy | €100,267.37 |
| Cumulative annualised savings from energy savings campaign | €369,722.00 |
| Savings from the electrification of Council’s vehicle fleet | nil |
| Rates Income from fossil fuel/nuclear electricity plant | €703,000 |
| Rates Income from grid infrastructure and related plant | €2,385,936 |
| Total | €3.6 million |
Council’s Reply
We are preparing a more comprehensive 22/23 EU Directive Information request to this Council on the energy transition. Asking how Louth plans to maximise the financial benefits of the ‘green energy ’ jobs which are forecast to grow to 125,000 in the Republic and 42,000 in Northern Ireland by 2030. An opportunity one would think would be especially useful to Louth given its geography on the Belfast / Dublin corridor and the bulk of the population in Ireland in its vicinity and likely to pay for any costs associated with Climate Change.
A PDF of the Council’s 2020/21 response will be here shortly