Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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157. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide a schedule of the amount of Public Service Obligation levy collected since it was introduced to date under the headings of domestic customers, small commercial customers and medium and large customers; the way in which this levy is redistributed when collected; if he is satisfied that all funds are used for their intended purposes when allocated; and the way in which he ensures compliance with same. [2689/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy is charged to all electricity final customers in Ireland and is collected from customers by electricity suppliers.  The PSO levy is a vital policy support for the development of renewable electricity and to enable Ireland reach national and EU renewable energy and climate targets. The money raised from the levy is paid, via suppliers, to qualifying generators eligible for support under a number of Government schemes including the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) and Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) schemes.For customers connected to the electricity distribution system, the PSO Levy collected by electricity suppliers is passed to the Distribution System Operator (DSO) and then from the DSO to the Transmission System Operator (TSO). For transmission-connected customers the levy is passed directly to the TSO. The TSO then pays out the appropriate PSO Levy amounts, as instructed by the CRU, to the relevant market participants.

The legal basis for the PSO levy and its method of calculation are set out in regulations made under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 and the Public Service Obligations Order 2002 (S.I. 217 of 2002). Under this legislation, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is responsible for the calculation of the levy each year and ensuring that the scheme is administered appropriately and efficiently.

The CRU requires that the annual submission of claims from supply companies for the recovery of PSO related costs be accompanied by an independent auditor’s report. In addition, the DSO and the TSO are required to provide an annual certification to the CRU regarding the collection of the PSO Levy. 

The table below sets out the total annual PSO levy since 2011 and provides a breakdown of how the PSO levy was allocated across the three different customer categories: 

The latest CRU Decision on the PSO Levy for the period October 2021 to September 2022 period is available at: www.cru.ie/cru-publishes-public-service-obligation-levy-for-2021-2022.