Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus go raibh maith agaibh ar fad as ucht teacht os comhair an choiste.

I have a specific question I hope the committee can help me with because I am finding it hard to get the answer. We know energy inflation is being driven by international factors but my question is in relation to the price regulation of network charges. These network charges are approximately one third of people's bills and the prices that EirGrid and Gas Networks Ireland charge are regulated by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU. It is my understand that Britain uses the price regulation formula, RPI-X, where the RPI stands for the retail price index which is a measure of inflation. Here we use a harmonised index of consumer prices and the so-called X factor is a rate the CRU sets which obliges EirGrid and the others to reduce their price in retail terms. In other words, these companies can increase their price in line with the rate of inflation minus the amount set by the regulator. First of all, is this the witnesses' understanding of how the system works? It may not be a question for them but I am trying to get to the bottom of this. My understanding is that the CRU's last review of this was in 2020 which was a year in which we experienced deflation, so if the CRU set the X factor very low that year and we subsequently experienced rapid inflation, the companies would be allowed to increase prices rapidly, which we have seen. I am hoping they can answer my question.