Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

The vast majority of costs relating to the operation, maintenance and development of our ESB distribution and transmission networks are socialised. When we are building new connection or new major infrastructure, building out, reinforcing the grid, all those costs are socialised across all customer groups. We are talking about an individual customer seeking to connect to that larger grid. In the case of Uisce Éireann it is a bit different as there is Government support for the domestic customers' portion of the subsidised costs.

We consulted extensively on the equity principle of how much an individual connecting customer should pay versus all the rest of the customers, including that customer once they are connected or in the case of Uisce Éireann the Government on its behalf. We found the approach we are adopting is the fairest approach. It is equitable, clear and transparent. It is the same for all customers regardless of where they are connecting. Following extensive analysis and consultation, we believe it gets the balance right between the socialised cost and the cost for individual connections. That is the decision we arrived at. That has been implemented since 2019, I think, in the case of water. It has been the same for some time in the case of ESB Networks. There is a provision that we would not unfairly discriminate against different customers and different classes of customers. That is the balance we must maintain when coming to those decisions.