Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 December 2023
43. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications how much money has EirGrid expended to date on the development of the North South Interconnector; and how much money has Eirgrid spent on the construction of the North South Interconnector. [54170/23]
View answerResponsibility for the regulation of the electricity market is a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) which is an independent regulator, accountable to a committee of the Oireachtas and not me as Minister. The CRU was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity sector following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 and subsequent legislation.
The CRU is responsible for, inter alia, the economic regulation of the electricity system operators ESB Networks, distribution, and EirGrid, transmission. The cost of building, safely operating and maintaining the electricity system is recovered by system operators through charges on customers, all of which is overseen and agreed with the CRU. System operator spending is agreed with the CRU in five year cycles, referred to as Price Reviews. The current Price Review, spanning 2021-2025, saw the CRU sanction a €4 billion capital expenditure on the grid.
The North South Interconnector is a Transmission project and is being undertaken by EirGrid, as TSO. The Government does not have any role in the delivery of electricity infrastructure on the ground. This is consistent with the 2012 Government Policy Statement on the Strategic Importance of Transmission and Other Energy Infrastructure which states: ‘The Government does not seek to direct EirGrid and ESB Networks or other energy infrastructure developers to particular sites or routes or technologies’.
EirGrid are independent of the Minister in the exercise of their functions as Transmission System Operators, and are accountable to the CRU in respect of expenditure on grid development. The matters raised in this question are operational matters for both EirGrid, in the first instance, and the CRU and therefore not a matter in which I have function. In this instance, I have forwarded the Deputies query to EirGrid for a direct response.
