Dr. Liam Ryan:

I will respond first to the question that was asked at the very beginning about building out the grid. We are building out the grid to be able to cater for a 50% demand increase. That is to cover all aspects of society from the electrification of transport, to normal economic growth and also large energy users. That aligns with Government policy. We are making sure over that period that we connect renewables to the system to align with Government policy. In 2023, some 21% of our energy was associated with large energy users. That includes data centres and some of the large tech companies as well. This year we are probably looking at that being in and around 22% or 23%. In looking out to 2030, we are in the region of 30%, based on the ramp rates we are seeing for the contracted large energy users on the system. We are also catering for the electrification of heat, transport and all the other aspects of society that we need to deliver over the period.

With respect to the cost and the distribution of it, when we are making our submission to the CRU we give the cost-benefit analysis associated with the infrastructure we are looking at and then the CRU opines on how best to apportion those costs across society.