Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Burke for his presentation. How did the Department decide on the €120 and the 75%? How do we compare with other member states? How was that decision reached? There is a sense out there that wholesale prices are coming down and have been for a considerable time and consumers have not seen the benefit of that. As I understand it, if electricity companies are not passing on reductions in wholesale prices or the benefits of their hedging contracts, they will not be susceptible to this new tax. Does the Department have visibility on the hedging policies of individual companies to see that they are passing on, in a reasonable manner, the gains they may have got from the very high prices of fossil fuels, because it is not just the oil companies that could potentially be gaining here? We heard that in future, the EU is requiring two-way contracts for difference. In other words, if one has a renewable price and pitches, then if the price is higher, State claws back and if the price is lower, the company gets some compensation. Do we have many contracts out there with renewable providers that do not have that two-way, claw-back arrangement in place? We may have a problem with continuing supernormal profits among some of these providers.