Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 June 2015
281. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the Valuations Office or the Government has assessed the potential liability and exposure under European Union law, including under state aid rules, of discrimination against renewable energy plants through affording more favourable treatment to fossil fuel plants, thereby distorting the market. [26178/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015 provide for the same basis of valuation for rating purposes for all electricity generating facilities whether they are renewable energy plants or fossil fuel plants.
The basis of valuation, whether valuing a renewable energy plant or a fossil fuel plant, is provided for in section 48 of the Acts, net annual value, that is, the rent for which, one year with another, the property might, in its actual state, be reasonably expected to let from year to year, on the assumption that the probable average annual cost of repairs, insurance and other expenses (if any) that would be necessary to maintain the property in that state and all rates and other taxes in respect of the property, are borne by the tenant of the property.
Section 15(1) of the Valuation Act, 2001 provides that all relevant property in Schedule 3 of the Act is rateable. Paragraph 1(m) of that Schedule refers specifically to electricity generating stations and the various components of such facilities. These include all buildings and structures, ancillary on site developments, roads, reservoirs, jetties, railways, bridges docks, cooling towers, turbines, generators, transformers, boilers, furnaces, tanks, fuel handling equipment, effluent disposal works, including chimneys, dams, weirs, reservoirs, canals (head race, tail race), locks, penstocks, surge tanks, natural gas installations, wind generators and ancillary plant.
Accordingly, there is no discrimination in the treatment of electricity generating facilities for rating purposes between renewable energy plants and those powered by fossil fuels.
