Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 May 2022
110. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if time of use tariffs will be made mandatory along with smart meters in order to make use and production cheaper; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22414/22]
View answerThe electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland operate within a European Union regulatory regime wherein electricity and gas markets are commercial, liberalised, and competitive. Operating within this overall EU framework, responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets is solely a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) which was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity and gas markets following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act (ERA), 1999.The National Smart Metering Programme is overseen by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) and ESB Networks is delivering the electricity smart meter rollout. To date over 750,000 smart meters have been installed and 1.1 million are due to be installed by the end of this year. The National Smart Metering Programme will roll out and install 2.3 million meters by 2025.In February 2021, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) made it an obligation on electricity suppliers to provide Time of Use tariffs to their customers. Response 22 of the recently published National Energy Security Framework identifies the need to drive customer demand for these smart tariffs. Therefore, building on the existing supplier obligation, work is underway to put in place a smart meter data access code (due Quarter 4 2022), which will allow consumers to access much more detailed data on their historical energy usage, empowering them to engage with suppliers to find the smart tariff offering most suitable for them. This will in turn drive consumer demand for an increased range of more sophisticated smart tariff offerings from suppliers.The National Energy Security Framework response also tasks the CRU with examining the charges within its remit to ensure that the differential between peak and off-peak tariffs provides the opportunity for electricity customers to save money by moving some consumption to off-peak times.The Deputy may wish to note that CRU provides a dedicated email address for Oireachtas members, which enables them raise questions on general energy regulatory matters to CRU at oireachtas@cru.ie for timely direct reply.
