Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

We see the clean energy package having a welcome focus on energy consumers at its heart and driving this transition to a clean energy market. There are many aspects of the package which deliver specific rights and protections for consumers. Some of those would be already familiar to Irish consumers such as competitive markets, opportunities to shop around, value and choice from suppliers, deregulated tariffs, as well as the availability of price comparison tools, which are accredited and certified so consumers can have faith and confidence in those. These are elements of our market which are taken for granted by Irish consumers. A key element of the package is ensuring those benefits are delivered for all energy consumers across Europe.

There are also aspects of the package which are completely transformational for energy consumers such as rights of consumers to smart meters, to better information, to better opportunities to participate in the market, as well as rights to have dynamic tariffs so they can be a part of the market. As well as driving the transition, they can participate and be part of the demand-side response. For example, when there is much wind on the system, they can generate their own electricity and sell it to the grid at times when they are not using it. This is transformational change for Ireland and Europe, which we welcome.

Much of the work we have been engaging in, along with the industry in Ireland, particularly around the delivery of the national smart metering program, will pave the way for this transformation to be delivered in Ireland. We broadly welcome those aspects of the package which focus on delivering those benefits to consumers throughout Europe.

We see no immediate impact from Brexit on the Irish energy market. Like all sectors, however, there are potential implications depending on the outcome of the negotiation process. Within that, we strongly welcome the commitment of the Governments in Ireland and in the UK to the retention and importance of the all-island single electricity market. As Brexit interacts with this clean energy package, there are some aspects it will not impact, such as the consumer protection measures I referred to earlier. However, there are elements to do with security of supply and regional security which will have to be carefully considered in light of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.