Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister and I will turn on our washing machines as soon as we go home. We will be able to avail of the night rate.

To clarify the point I am making, of the 1.5 million-odd meters that have been rolled out so far, only 80,000, or 6%, of them are being used to avail of that cheaper rate. The smart meters are not being used to their capacity and that is because the night rate kicks in too late. If it was brought in earlier, such as at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m., which are after peak time, more people would use their appliances then, thereby saving money, but also saving energy and emissions. That is the point I am trying to make. There would be a far bigger uptake in use of smart meters.

The Minister referred to retrofitting. Is he confident the State has the skilled tradespeople to deliver that retrofitting? He stated we are currently at approximately 27,000. Do we have the materials to deliver the 500,000 target? Are we on course? Is the one-stop-shop system operating?

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