Mr. Garrett Blaney:

We have a surplus of electricity, we have a market that schedules the cheapest possible generation across the island. It takes the cheapest generators in Northern Ireland and the Republic and they are scheduled to run in the market. On top of that, there is a constraint in the grid, particularly the North-South constraint. Those cheapest generators cannot run because they cannot physically get the power from the generation directly to the consumer, because the network will not allow it, so other, more expensive plant must be run. Regardless of the level of surplus, that must still be done. More expensive plant, which burn more oil or coal, or whatever fuel they use, add extra cost, which goes directly to the consumer's bill. All those costs are delivered directly to the consumer. It is not something the consumer absorbs, it hits their bill directly.