Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee. It is safe to say that this area is quite complex. For customers, it is quite complex. We had several sessions and we have an understanding of who has responsibility for which area. Even if one is to look at the climate action framework, several agencies are involved in a lot of those particular areas. One of those is smart metering. I believe it is between the ESB and the CRU. As already indicated, almost 1,000 have smart meters at this stage. When I asked for details about how many are actually using the tariff, it is actually very low. Three seems to be an awful long way to go - I believe that 40,000 people are on the best tariff based in the context of their smart meters. What is being communicated to me is that people are opting to go without the smart meter, and to go another route because they have identified that it is cheaper and particularly for electric vehicle owners, which would be one aspect. What more can the witnesses do to play their part? It is pointless having everybody signed up to a smart meter if they are not deriving the benefit from it.

The second point relates to renewables. The ESB has a key responsibility there. Do the witnesses feel that they are ready for the scale of the challenge, particularly when it comes to offshore wind? The target is now 7 GW by 2030. There is a massive amount of work the ESB needs to do in order to be able to facilitate companies investing here. Where is the ESB at in that regard, and is it ready for the challenge?