Ms Justina Corcoran:

I thank the Chair and the Deputy for the questions. On the smart meters, one of the pieces of work the SEAI is currently involved in which will be in place this year is a smart energy portal.

If people have the smart meter, a page will take them through the smart meter journey, including tariffs and usage. People will be able to put data into it. It will be done in a very user-friendly and customer-centred way. At the moment, the only available data is through the ESBN. People can get their own data if they sign up to that and they will be sent a profile where they can see their data usage. Out of 1.6 million users, about 300,000 people are signed up to get that data. It will give people some information, but the portal should make information available to people in a way in which they will be able to understand it and the choices they have in terms of tariffs. They will be able to understand their own usage and how they might be able to shift their behaviour to get better prices on their bills.