Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 7, line 9, to delete “assigned”.

I will address amendments Nos. 5 to 7. Following publication of the Bill, an anomaly was found within the text of section 4 "functions of the distribution system operator" in relation to this No. III scheme. This amendment is required to enable the distribution system operator, DSO, to notify each supplier of meter point reference numbers, MPRNs, that has low-usage electricity that it is not held by a registered vulnerable customer or a holder of a hardship meter. When ESBN takes a snapshot of all MPRNs in the country due for payment under the scheme, it will also flag any accounts with electricity usage below 150 kW per quarter for four consecutive quarters. This threshold is being used to identify low electricity consumption levels of a potentially vacant house. Once this information is flagged by ESBN, electricity suppliers will then withhold the credit payments from these accounts. Without this amendment, the ESBN will not be in a position to advise suppliers that a MPRN with low usage is a registered vulnerable customer or a holder of a hardship meter. This could result in payment being inadvertently withheld from an eligible household and on that basis I propose the approval of this amendment.

See this speech in context