Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I find it extraordinary that the Union has been lecturing us about our public service yet it cannot deliver something that is of vital European as well as Irish interest. I understand 1,000 MW of power is ready to proceed.

As I understand it, under the REFIT scheme, as proposed, a generator - in other words, the person who owns the windmill - gets €66 per MW hour produced, whereas the supplier - in other words, the middleman - gets just under €10 per MW hour. I further understand that in the event of the price of electricity rising dramatically, which could easily happen as oil becomes scarce, all of the upside goes to the middleman - the supplier - rather than to the generator. Is my understanding correct? Does the Minister consider this a reasonable balance? Should that balance be more in favour of, first, the consumer, in that when the price goes over a certain limit there would be a rebate to the PSO, and, second, the generator - in other words, the person who invested in the windmills - rather than the middle group, namely, the network which delivers the electricity?

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