Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It has come to my attention that if a person disconnects and seeks a reconnection after 18 months he or she will pay a punitive reconnection fee. Could each of the witnesses outline their policies on that, what the fees are and explain why there is such an increase after 18 months?

A retailer who makes an effort to use very little electricity is being punished by paying quite a high price and the reason given is that the business is not using enough electricity. Could the witnesses elaborate on that?

At a recent meeting of Kerry County Council, Councillor Niall Kelleher from the Killarney electoral area, raised the issue of energy companies paying below market rates for energy credits associated with energy upgrades by local authorities. This arises from the energy retrofit scheme and refers to the kilowatt hour savings assigned to works carried out, or the carbon reduction saving certificates. Councillor Kelleher obtained information that the local authorities are disposing of these certificates for what he considers to be far below the market value, for example, in 2013-14 certificates were given to Electric Ireland for as low as €0.4 and €0.6 per kilowatt hour when the market value was seen to be €0.88. The knock-on effect is significant loss to local authorities which gain these certificates as a result of investment from public funding through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. How much are the energy companies paying to local authorities per kilowatt hour credits? How many hours have they purchased since 2012? How many have they obtained? Will they give as much information as possible on that area please?