Vol. 563 No. 1
372 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his proposals to privatise the national grid or to end the current situation whereby the ESB on the one hand competes in the generation of electricity and controls the distribution system. [7223/03]
I have no proposals to privatise the national electricity grid. Regulation of the electricity sector is primarily a matter for the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER. Generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity are all licensed activities by the CER.
The national grid is normally understood to refer to transmission rather than distribution. Eirgrid plc was established as the independent transmission system operator under the European Communities (Internal Market in Electricity) Regulations 2000 (SI 445 of 2000). The company was formally incorporated on 7 February 2001 and received its certificate to commence trading on 14 February 2001. It has been licensed by the CER. An infrastructure agreement to govern the relationship between Eirgrid and ESB is being finalised under the supervision of the CER. A transfer scheme for the staff involved as between ESB and Eirgrid must also be settled. In the meantime, the transmission system operator functions are being carried out by ESB National Grid, as a ring-fenced business unit within ESB.
