Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House.

Since 2019 and throughout 2020, ESB Networks has rolled out new electricity smart metering technology in homes across Ireland. If and when this roll-out is completed, domestic and business premises in Ireland will have a smart meter installed. Customers have been told that there is no additional charge for smart meters but that is not the case. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has already announced that household bills will increase by between €30 and €70 from 1 October 2020, partially to pay for this. Many countries, like Germany, chose not to deploy a mass roll out of smart meters because of costs. There are many cautionary tales where the roll-out costs have escalated very significantly from initial estimates like in the UK. All of this for a programme with no clear consumer or environmental benefits. Many countries have deployed smart meters ahead of Ireland and there is no case showing material positive improvements in energy use or other consumer benefits.

We know that under EU regulations Ireland is obliged to roll out smart meters as long as a positive business case for it can be made. The CRU commissioned a cost-benefit analysis, published in 2017, that found the project would cost €1.2 billion and have a €36 million negative net present value, which it deemed broadly neutral. The national smart meter programme, NSMP, has undergone little public scrutiny in contrast with other Government spending. I believe that if the savings that have been promised with this programme are clear and tangible then there should be no issue with having a full scrutiny of the costs, particularly at a time when the economic consequences of the pandemic are becoming clear, and the impact of Brexit looms for both Irish businesses and citizens.

The biggest assumed benefit underpinning the cost-benefit analysis is an assumption that customers will shift their consumption from peak times through the imposition of a time-of-use tariff. The ESRI's behavioural research unit conducted a study, in collaboration with the CRU, that found customers are reluctant to use the new time-of-use tariff. Does this now render the cost-benefit analysis assumption false?

Despite this evidence, the CRU continues to mandate that all electricity suppliers provide customers with at least one time-of-use tariff and must take "reasonable and effective steps to migrate all relevant residential and smaller business customers to an appropriate time-of-use tariff in a timely manner" ultimately removing customer choice in terms of flat-rate tariffs. As the spokesperson for enterprise and trade in this House, I am very concerned at this. Why are we insisting that small businesses must pay more for peak electricity usage during this pandemic?

I have a number of questions that I hope the Minister of State might be able to answer. What exact benefits are customers and businesses paying for? Why has an updated CRU cost-benefit analysis not been published? How can paying for smart meters that will push businesses to a higher tariff be justified during a crippling economic time? Why have so many other countries opted out of a smart meter roll out while Ireland has not, despite limited evidence of the benefit and the likelihood of escalated costs? Why are there no smart meter success stories internationally?

Is the Minister of State happy that the CRU has this month implemented a 11.6% increase in the regulated distribution charge payable by electricity customers, partially to pay for the smart meter programme at a time when there is no inflation and the country is reeling from the economic effects of Covid-19? Is she aware that the recent Electric Ireland price rise of €35 per home is an almost exact pass through of these increased regulated costs? Can she confirm that consumers are paying the price for smart meters? What is the position for businesses that are currently closed or partially open? They are not going to want, under any circumstances, to be charged for a smart meter that is of no use to their businesses at this time.