Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 September 2022
112. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the reason that he opposed decoupling gas from electricity prices at the European Energy Council in October 2021; if he now supports the proposal to decouple gas from electricity prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45785/22]
View answerI recently attended an extraordinary meeting of the European Energy Council, where Ministers emphasised the need for coordinated European action, both in terms of short-term exceptional emergency measures, and medium/longer-term improvements to the market framework. Ministers agreed that immediate action must be taken to ensure the EU's security of supply and alleviate pressure on customers, while maintaining consistency with the current efforts to reduce gas demand and the objectives of the European Green Deal and REPowerEU.The Commission has proposed a number of short-term exceptional emergency measures in recent days which includes capping the revenues of inframarginal electricity producers with low costs of production, with the income from the measures to be used to mitigate the impact of high energy prices on customers.
The approach proposed by the European Commission is favourable to the alternative concept of decoupling gas from the electricity market. The decoupling alternative would directly interfere with the market dispatch of generation units with a potentially significant impact on cross border trade of electricity. It is important that in making urgently needed changes to the electricity market, that there is no unintended consequences arising, in particular, damaging the trade of electricity. In Ireland's case this is crucial in the context of the all-Island Single Electricity Market and for imports and exports to Great Britain.
