Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask Mr. Somers about smart meters. While 750,000 have been installed, they are not providing real-time information to households. In Germany people get real time updates suggesting that now might be a good time to put on a dryer or washing machine. I have a smart meter and I do not know what its benefit is because all I can do is request at the end of the day what my energy usage was. I have queried this with the CRU. Should the Department insist we have dynamic tariffs, as opposed to just on-peak and off-peak tariffs? My understanding of some of the off-peak tariffs is that people need to wait until midnight and run their washing machines at night, but it is not good advice for anybody to be switching on electrical appliances going to bed. We need to have those dynamic tariffs to make the smart meters effective and do what they should be doing.

Otherwise, it would seem to be just a refurbishment of the current metering system. Is the Department's role to instruct the CRU to instruct the electricity providers that they need to start offering dynamic tariffs? I refer to the ESB as well, in respect of the need for households to have real-time information to enable them to engage in the decarbonisation process and to adjust their behaviour accordingly.

Turning to the community local energy action fund, LEAF, have we an indication of what budget will be allocated to it? It would be handy if that information were available. On the small-scale electricity generation scheme, people showed great interest in applying for it when it opened initially. My understanding is that it was shut down and it was stated there would be a public consultation process. Is there a timeline for when we are going to move from that phase to allowing more people to opt into this programme?