Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 20 September 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities

Ms Karen Trant:

It is not. Certain conditions would be put in place before it would be regulated again. We can do it with one of the large suppliers, that being, a part of the ESB Group.

For a customer, the standing charge is based on the estimated annual bill and depends on what way the supplier has distributed costs. For example, the supplier might have a higher commodity charge and lower standing charge or a higher standing charge and lower commodity charge. For the customer, the best way to deal with the matter is to go to the switching websites and put in his or her usage figure to see what products suit him or her the best. That is what we are telling customers to do. However, we do not have the ability to investigate the standing charge in that level of detail or to regulate it.