Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The delivery in mid-year will be in July-August and there will be 25,000 meters in the first test phase. It is proper to do this before going to every single house in the country. We need a significant sample such as this so we can test which technologies we want to use and what level of intervention or complexity we need to apply.

It is right and proper that those details are worked out in the organisational structure I have just set out involving the regulator, the supply companies, the Department and Sustainable Energy Ireland. My instinct and my direction to them is to be as extensive and elaborate as possible in what we are trying to do. It is not just a meter such as one would have on a wall, as I have in my own house, which tells the customer how much electricity is being used at the time, although that is useful and gives a clear indication of exactly how much electricity is being used when turning on and off devices. However, we need to go beyond that to have the option of variable pricing so the householder may have the benefit of saying: "I will allow people to switch off devices in my property on the basis that I get a lower tariff because I will not be using electricity at the most expensive peak time." This is an evolution I would like us to avail of because it is the peak electricity supply that is the most expensive in terms of emissions as well as cost for the customer.

The Deputy is correct that it also allows benefits to the supply company, which is not a bad thing. There is a clearly defined gain at present in that it gives the supply company much greater control so it knows where its electricity is going and there is much less opportunity for people to take unpaid electricity off the grid. I see no reason to restrict this as it benefits consumers in the end.

We have already seen a change in the regulations to allow micro-generators to supply electricity back to the grid and to sell it within the grid. Those regulatory changes occurred at the end of November when the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, published a paper recognising a change. The smart metering programme will facilitate and further that development of micro-generation.

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