Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

On the PSO levy, households do pay a smaller contribution at a gross level than businesses. The methodology for dividing the PSO levy between large energy users, SMEs and customers is set out in legislation. With the levy, we follow the law, which is based on Government policy. It is not an area of policy that we can pick up ourselves. Our understanding is that the methodology developed regarding how the levy is allocated between businesses and domestic customers is based on state aid notifications, which inform the legislation. It is an area in which the CRU is not the rule-setter; it follows the rules. However, if there were an initiative to investigate the methodology, we would support the Department or other body involved.

On smart meters, we were asked about the difference between, say, the people with a day–night–peak arrangement and people on day–night meters who are looking to switch back. An anomaly we are addressing is that people on day–night meters were at some points getting a cheaper night rate than people on standard smart tariffs with day, night and peak rates. We are addressing the anomaly through the network charges to ensure it will not arise and that there will be a further incentive to move to smart meters. Day–night meters tend to be for people with electrical heating or high energy consumption in the home and smart meters are not for everyone, so we want the solution to deliver for everyone. This is an area we are addressing.

Do my colleagues have any issues we might come back to?