Customer bills will rise to fund €18bn upgrade of Ireland's power grid, but there's confusion over how much hikes will be
The huge investment would pay for strengthening networks to cope with extreme events like Storm Éowyn and allow for the connection of tens of thousands of new homes and businesses.
It would boost capacity for the expansion of electric vehicles and heat pumps and prepare the grid to carry power from planned offshore windfarms.
It would cover the cost of 70 new or updated substations, 50,000 pole replacements, over 300km of underground cables and more than 1,000km of new or upgraded overhead lines.
Network tariffs – part of the charges that make up customer bills – will rise to raise the funds but it is not clear by how much.
The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), which proposes to sign off on the five-year plan, says it should only add between €6 and €16 to the average annual bill.
However, ESB Networks which, with EirGrid, put the plan together, estimated that it would add €83 to an average annual bill.
Full details of the five-year plan are to be published today and put out for public consultation for 10 weeks after which the CRU will make its final decision.
However, the regulator has proposed allowing ESB Networks and EirGrid to go ahead with almost all the projects they submitted. The two bodies jointly sought approval for an €18.98bn spending plan for 2026-2030.
The CRU has approved €14.1bn at the outset but says the figure can be increased to €18.1bn before 2030 so long as projects are being delivered as promised and on time.
At the lower figure, the CRU says it has calculated the impact on customer bills to be around €6 per year, rising to €16 if the higher figure is reached.
The spending plan, called Price Review 6 (PR6), is triple the spend of the last five years, and the CRU acknowledged it was a huge increase.
It said Ireland was going through an unprecedented change in the use and demand for electricity, and significant investment was required to ensure the network was up to the task.
'The investment by ESBN and EirGrid in our energy infrastructure is crucial to ensure Ireland can accelerate its move to a cleaner and more secure supply of energy as we progress to 2030,' Fergal Mulligan, CRU commissioner, said.
Mr Mulligan said costs to the consumer would be monitored annually.
'We realise that these significant investments may lead to increases in consumer bills in the short term,' Mr Mulligan said.
'Given the financial pressures that many households currently face, network companies must keep the cost of moving to cleaner energy as low as possible for customers.'
The CRU said customers should shop around for the most suitable tariffs for their needs which could minimise the impact of any increased charges that suppliers may pass on to them.
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