Dáil debates

Thursday, 30 November 2006

Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Single Electricity Market) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

5:00 pm

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I am conscious of how much time I have used as I wish to leave enough for Deputy Finian McGrath.

The Minister of State's speech was interesting and towards the end he said the initial findings of the short-term impact analysis indicate that at current fuel price projections the SEM is not likely to have a significant impact on electricity prices over the first few years of its operation. I read this with interest because, when this was discussed in committee about a year ago, the regulator's clear position was that the SEM would lead to a reduction in prices in the short term of a number of percentage points. The explanatory memorandum for this Bill, which is very good compared to other recent Bills, gives economic and other analyses and the cost benefit analysis shows that in the short term the SEM will lead to a rise in prices in 2008 of up to 3%. That will go down like a tonne of bricks with Irish companies because electricity prices are already putting us out of the international market.

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