Mr. Dara Lynott:

The study considered this matter. One of the sensitivities that it considered was increased or reduced electrification of the system. For example, if we did not reach the target for electric vehicles outlined in the programme for Government, we would have increased fossil fuel usage balanced by a decrease in the amount of electricity generated to fuel electric vehicles.

I will make a few points about demand management, the first of which is on electrification. If we do not switch from petrol in our cars and kerosene in our heating systems to plugs, there will be no demand for the electricity we are generating. Along with investment in and the innovative operation of our grid, we need to shift fossil fuel usage over to plugs. Eurelectric, the European representative organisation, has stated that we need to decrease our overall energy usage per year by 1.5% and increase electrification by 1%. Energy efficiency forms part of demand management. Our members that are suppliers will play a role in that through the energy efficiency obligation scheme of which they are a part. We also need to crack on with rolling out smart metering and microgeneration, which will allow for services and demand management to shift some of the peak demand to times when it costs less to provide electricity.