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

I helped launch EnergyCloud in Clondalkin last year. I absolutely support the initiative. It is part of the solution to address energy poverty, to lower emissions and to make more efficient use of our renewable energy powers. The answer is "Yes", but the exact mechanisms in terms how it evolves and develops obviously must be within European and other laws. I absolutely believe it has a vital role to play and can be part of the solution to cut energy poverty, cut our emissions and enhance renewable power.

In the context of electricity consumers, we have spent a substantial amount of money installing smart meters in every home. to date, 1.6 million meters have been installed. Will the Minister give a commitment that he will ask the SEAI to commission research to use the technology that has been installed in homes so that it could be used to facilitate an initiative such as EnergyCloud or any other similar initiatives? A similar initiative is run by Glen Dimplex in using their innovative storage quantum heaters that could act as battery storage in this country, and provide an income for some of those homes in fuel poverty homes currently. Does the Minister believe that something is fundamentally wrong when we have 1.6 million smart meters installed and yet we have only 300,000 people registered to get the data? Why has the regulator not ensured that the development of the software and technology necessary to allow people to access that data?

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