Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 November 2023
178. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Finance the total number of units of renewable electricity that are determined by reference to data on the fuel mix in respect of the suppliers concerned, as published by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, for which relief is claimed from the electricity tax for 2022, in tabular form. [51628/23]
View answerThe Deputy has asked about relief from Electricity Tax in the context of electricity supplier data on fuel mix as published by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU). The requirement for electricity suppliers to show the sources of electricity on consumer bills, and to report Fuel Mix Disclosures to the CRU, is governed by the State’s electricity market regulatory framework which operates entirely independently of tax law. Policy and legislation with regard to the market regulatory framework comes within the remit of my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. That regulatory framework provides for a certification scheme whereby the State’s Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO) issues Guarantees of Origin to verify that electricity has been produced from renewable sources. Guarantees of Origin are tradable across the EU which allows Irish suppliers buy additional Guarantees of Origin to certify that a greater share of their electricity demand is covered by renewable sources. This means that Guarantees of Origin do not necessarily follow the flow of electricity and the fuel mix reported by electricity suppliers can have a higher share of renewable energy sources than exists in the actual physical generation distributed to consumers.
With regard to Electricity Tax, Ireland’s taxation of fuel and electricity is governed by European Union law as set out in Directive 2003/96/EC, commonly known as the Energy Tax Directive (ETD). The ETD prescribes minimum tax rates for fuel and electricity with which all Member States must comply. The ETD provisions on taxation of electricity are transposed into national law in Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Finance Act 2008 (as amended). This provides for the application of an excise duty, in the form of Electricity Tax, on electricity supplied to consumers in the State. Liability rests with the supplier and returns are filed annually. The current rate of Electricity Tax is €1.00 per megawatt hour which is one of the lowest excise rates on electricity in the EU.
Article 15 of the ETD allows Member States to fully or partially relieve supplies of electricity generated from renewable sources. Ireland has opted to fully exempt electricity of solar, wind, wave, tidal or geothermal/hydraulic origin, along with electricity produced from biomass or from products produced from biomass. Ireland has opted to provide a full relief from Electricity Tax for electricity generated from renewable sources and the relevant legislative provisions are set out in section 63 of the Finance Act 2008 (as amended). Full details on Electricity Tax are available on the Revenue website at www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/excise-and-licences/energy-taxes/electricity-tax/index.aspx.
I am advised by Revenue that the total number of terawatt hours of renewable electricity for which relief was claimed from Electricity Tax in 2022 was 15.6 TWh.
