Cornwall’s Irish Energy Market Update

In this month’s issue, we take an in-depth look at the CER’s review of competition in the retail gas and electricity markets. While the report offers highly useful insights into developments in the sector, we suggest that the regulator risks understating how well Ireland’s market is functioning overall. Elsewhere, the Irish government has set out how changes in the energy sector will contribute to its efforts to protect the quality of the nation’s air. This came as part of a consultation on a new National Clean Air Strategy, which will seek to outline the policies needed to reduce air pollution. Ireland’s energy minister Denis Naughten has announced a significant expansion of programmes aimed at addressing energy poverty. He said that too many consumers continued to live in homes that were “sink holes for fuel poverty”, and that ending this inequality was a priority. The SEMC has decided that, at least until January 2020, supplier charges in the I-SEM will be levied on a net basis. The decision covers the charges that are levied on suppliers in order to recover certain costs, including capacity costs, imperfections charges, market operator costs, difference payment socialisation charges as well as currency adjustment and residual error volume charges. New figures have confirmed that renewables generation in Northern Ireland in 2016 accounted for just over a quarter (25.4%) of electricity consumption last year––unchanged on the previous 12-month period. Wind continues to account for a strong majority of the share of generation from renewables, but bioenergy accounts for an increasing share. ESB has confirmed that its operating profits dipped by over 6% to €597mn last year. It said that the fall was largely driven by the impact on earnings of weakening sterling. The performance equates to a return on capital employed of 6.1%, and will enable ESB to pay a dividend of €116mn this year.

 

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Article Source: http://www.cornwall-insight.com/uploads/170317_ESIreland.pdf

 

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