Ms Laura Brien:

I will respond to the question on timescale for the revision to the single electricity market rules. Our target for the new rules to be in place is May 2018. As Dr. McGowan explained, we have a single electricity market today. It has been up and running since 2007. We are revising the rules to make them compliant with the broader pan-European electricity market. The revised rules should be in place in May 2018, which is the target.

On the costs and prices of electricity, we rely on a very good report produced by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland on the comparison of residential and commercial electricity prices in Ireland relative to our European peers. It is coming out with a new metric that looks at a weighted average price across a range of consumption values. The level of consumption in Ireland is different from other countries. When we look at that average, our prices have been at or below the EU area average for the last couple of six month periods. Denmark and Germany are outliers, but when we average across all the countries within the eurozone area, Ireland is at the average level. We are not necessarily an outlier but we recognise that we have some underlying costs that tend to make us that much more expensive. We have a very geographically dispersed population. This means that for each customer we end up having to build more distribution lines and this leads to the delivery of electricity within Ireland being more expensive than more densely populated countries such as The Netherlands or France. Ireland is not really out of line in that respect.

The members asked about switching and the duration of deals. Obviously, the commercial offerings of suppliers are based on their own ideas of what they think is best for their companies. Most of them tend to have a large initial discount for a 12-month period and the price then reverts to a more standard tariff after that. Not all companies have adopted that pricing strategy. Some companies have adopted a different pricing strategy of a smaller discount over three years. There is some variety out there. The Commission for Energy Regulation supports switching as one of the ways that customers can get the benefits of competition. By shopping around, switching is straightforward, fast and free. A customer who is a dual fuel home customer could save €200 to €300 per year, even today, by switching to a different supplier for that initial 12-month discount period.

While we do not promote anyone in particular we accredit price comparison websites. There are two price comparison websites that are accredited by the CER and we always encourage people to go to those and put in a consumption level or an average consumption. The websites then display the level of competitive offers that are available.

The issue around the public service obligation was also raised. Obviously, the CER does not set the level of renewable supports that the PSO levy goes to fund. We act on behalf of the Department to calculate the level of the levy every year. In recent weeks we have come out with a proposed decision with regard to the levy that would apply for the 2017-18 period. As was pointed out, because of the increased levels of renewables on the system, the levy will be supporting approximately 500 MW more wind generation in the coming year compared to the previous year. The overall level of the levy that we have gone out with regard to the proposed consultation is higher than last year.