Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 July 2022
15. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will consider decoupling Ireland’s electricity pricing from wholesale gas and price it based on the proportion of the sources of energy generation as was done by Spain and Portugal following European Union approval; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36377/22]
View answerOn 18 May 2022, the European Commission published REPowerEU with the overarching objective of phasing out EU reliance on Russian fossil fuels. As part of the suite of measures accompanying REPowerEU, the Commission published a communication “Short-Term Energy Market Interventions and Long Term Improvements to the Electricity Market Design – a course for action”. The communication proposes further short-term measures in the gas and electricity sectors to tackle effectively the impact of sustained high energy prices on consumers and companies.
One measure identified within the communication relates to subsidising the cost of gas used for power generation, which the Commission highlights, depending on its design could entail significant costs and may have State aid implications. This measure has been identified for regions with very limited interconnection capacity, high influence of gas in price setting and consumers particularly exposed to the wholesale market. This measure has been adopted in Spain and Portugal and, while those electricity markets differ significantly from the Irish electricity market, Ireland are closely monitoring the implementation of this measure and examining it and all measures proposed under the RePowerEU communication.
