Mr. Jim Gannon:

I thank the Chair.

As outlined, at the end of 2016 there was a complaint from a customer about an unlicensed LPG supplier. At the point, we engaged directly with the gas operators, namely, Calor and Flogas, to understand how many of these unlicensed networks, which were not captured by legislation and were not within the sight of the CRU, existed and what was their nature and scale. On receipt of that information, we engaged in an inspections programme of approximately two years to again identify the nature and scale of these. At the end of that, we submitted a report to the Department that noted the results of that inspections regime. We then engaged directly on updates to the legislation that would capture these networks and would also facilitate ensuring that they abide by the various requirements of the safety standards that were in place. There were consultations then in 2019, 2021 and 2022, which resulted in the publication of the handbook on how the CRU would license these operators.

During 2021 and 2022, the CRU again engaged with operators to update itself on the LPG unlicensed networks. This led to another inspections regime in 2023 and that gave the CRU the ability to have a clear sight of what was in front of it and what would be captured by the legislation. This allows for the CRU to progress and regulate these entities.

This has been progressing for a significant number of years. In the absence of these amendments to the legislation, the CRU safety team took the initiative and found a pathway to inspect and ensure safety at these unlicensed LPG networks through the gas safety officer powers. What is being done with this legislation is ensuring that they are fully captured within legislation.