Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Regulation of metering is principally an economic regulatory function under the existing regime for oversight of metering. Prior to their installation or modification, it is required that the detailed specifications of all metering stations are submitted for approval by my Department and are also subject to inspection. It is important to point this out. Metering of petroleum volumes also constitutes a part of the safety management system to be described in any developer's safety case, which is required to be assessed by the CER. As this activity falls within the current assessment regime, I do not propose to accept this amendment but it is important to go say that a lot of the hard work and heavy lifting in respect of management, regulation and oversight happened in 2010 and the CER is a robust and independent oversight mechanism to ensure that there is constant vigilance in respect of inspection during the process.

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