Mr. Dave McCabe:

We would encourage both the State and the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, to view the network as purely an incentive for the adoption of EVs. The time will come when the commercialisation of the network is appropriate. Nobody disputes that but we are a long way from that time with over 2,000 battery electric vehicles on the system. We have to look at what our goal is, which is to increase the number of electric vehicles. We will then worry about how we make some money from the electricity that might go into them. There are other ways to recover charges for car usage, including road pricing and other methods that can be used. However, we would strongly encourage the State to encourage the growth of electric vehicles usage and to generate policy around that and to regard the charger network as a strategic asset.

I thank the Chairman and members.