Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I very much thank Mr. Fenlon and his colleagues for attending. The issue of the standing charge has come up quite a bit. I ask for a note to be sent to the committee on the calculation of that charge. I have received feedback, as have colleagues on the committee, regarding people who are extremely apprehensive about having no wriggle room in respect of that charge. It has increased over the past while, so a briefing note on it would be most welcome.

I will turn to an issue also raised by my colleague, Senator Dooley, namely, that of customers being told to use appliances at off-peak times - we have seen those rates increase over the past while - and what was said about 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. being the hours for the cheapest rates for some of the tariffs Electric Ireland is offering. That has, for example, implications for multi-unit developments, such as apartment complexes, where everyone is running machines. We then get complaints regarding noise. We obviously have to consider more social hours. However, people who are trying their best to consume less energy, and at the most beneficial times as regards charges, feel snookered right now because they are being told to use energy off peak but off-peak rates are going up at a rate of knots. I ask for an answer to that.

I note that €3 million has been set aside for the hardship fund. How many customers does Electric Ireland expect to avail of that? The company has earmarked that amount. It would be interesting to hear what its expectation is in that regard. Equally, on smart meters, I know that Electric Ireland works with many of the charities in the context of pay-as-you-go meters, but sometimes the problem with them is the delay in getting them installed. How many requests for pay-as-you-go meters are outstanding with Electric Ireland right now? If I have time, I will come back in later.