Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Act 2024
In short
This law establishes two schemes, the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme IV and the Submeter Support Scheme II, to provide financial relief for electricity costs to domestic customers due to high global energy prices. It outlines how these schemes will be funded and operated.
What it regulates
- The establishment and operation of the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme IV (No. IV Scheme).
- The establishment and operation of the Submeter Support Scheme II.
- The transfer of funds from the Minister to the distribution system operator and electricity suppliers for these schemes.
- The functions of the distribution system operator, electricity suppliers, and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities in administering these schemes.
Who it concerns
- Domestic electricity account holders.
- Final customers with supplier submeter accounts.
Key points
- The No. IV Scheme and Submeter Support Scheme II will operate during the period commencing on the date of the passing of this Act and ending on 31 August 2025.
- The Minister shall allocate up to €565.75 million for the purposes of the No. IV Scheme.
- The No. IV Scheme aims to make an electricity costs emergency benefit payment in each of two payment periods: 1 November 2024 to 31 December 2024, and 1 January 2025 to 28 February 2025.
- Payments under both schemes are exempt from income tax.
Legal text
Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Act 2024 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.
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- s)or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 2024 Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Act 2024 Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Act 2024 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Open PDFOscail PDF Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 33 of 2024 ELECTRICITY COSTS (EMERGENCY MEASURES) DOMESTIC ACCOUNTS ACT 2024 CONTENTS Section 1. Definitions 2. Establishment of No. IV Scheme 3. Transfer of monies by Minister to distribution system operator for purposes of No. IV Scheme 4. Functions of distribution system operator in relation to No. IV Scheme 5. Functions of electricity suppliers in relation to No. IV Scheme 6. Review by electricity supplier 7. Establishment of Submeter Support Scheme II 8. Transfer of monies by Minister to electricity suppliers for purposes of Submeter Support Scheme II 9. Functions of electricity suppliers in relation to Submeter Support Scheme II 10. Functions of Commission in relation to Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme IV and Submeter Support Scheme II 11. Exemption in respect of payments under Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme IV and Submeter Support Scheme II 12. Regulations 13. Expenses 14. Short title and commencement Acts Referred to Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (No. 23) Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (No. 39) Number 33 of 2024 ELECTRICITY COSTS (EMERGENCY MEASURES) DOMESTIC ACCOUNTS ACT 2024 An Act to provide, due to the continued high cost of global energy prices since the completion of payments under the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme III and the Submeter Support Scheme, for the establishment of further schemes in accordance with this Act out of resources available to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, to be known as the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme IV for the purpose of making further electricity costs emergency benefit payments during the period commencing on the date of the passing of this Act and ending on 31 August 2025 and to be known as the Submeter Support Scheme II for the purpose of making submeter support scheme payments during the period commencing on the date of the passing of this Act and ending on 31 August 2025; for the purpose of the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme IV to confer functions on the distribution system operator and electricity suppliers; for the purpose of the Submeter Support Scheme II to confer functions on electricity suppliers; to confer functions on the Commission for Regulation of Utilities in relation to each of the Schemes and for that purpose to amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 ; to provide that the electricity costs emergency benefit payments and the submeter support scheme payments are exempt from income tax and for that purpose to amend the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ; to enable the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to make regulations in relation to the operation of the Schemes; and to provide for related matters. [12th October, 2024] Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows: Definitions 1. In this Act— “Act of 1999” means the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 ; “applicable date” has the meaning given to it by section 9
- g)of the Act of 1999; “domestic electricity account” means an electricity account in respect of which a meter point registration number has been assigned and which— (
- a)is held by a final customer with an electricity supplier, and (
- b)is identified by the distribution system operator as being subject to distribution use of system charges at the rate for urban domestic customers (DG1) or the rate for rural domestic customers (DG2) set out in the publication known as the “ESB Networks Schedule of Distribution Use of System Charges” approved by the Commission and for the time being in place; “effective date” has the meaning given to it by section 4
- a)the period commencing on 1 November 2024 and ending on 31 December 2024; (
- b)the period commencing on 1 January 2025 and ending on 28 February 2025; “prescribe” means prescribe by regulations made by the Minister under this Act; “registered vulnerable customer” means a vulnerable customer entered on the register of vulnerable customers maintained by the distribution system operator under Regulation 4
- a)The Minister shall, out of such monies as are available to him or her from monies provided by the Oireachtas, and with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, allocate such amount as he or she determines for the purposes of the No. IV Scheme. (
- b)The amount allocated under paragraph (
- a)shall not exceed €565.75 million. (
- c)The Minister shall estimate the amount required to be allocated under paragraph (
- a)for the purposes of making electricity costs emergency benefit payments under section 5
- a)on the request of the Minister, determine the number of— (
- i)domestic electricity accounts, (
- ii)low usage electricity accounts, (iii) low usage electricity accounts held by final customers who are registered vulnerable customers, (
- iv)micro-generation accounts, and (
- v)hardship meter accounts, on such date (in this Act referred to as the “relevant date”) as the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, prescribe for the purposes of this paragraph, (
- b)as soon as practicable after it has made each determination under paragraph (a), notify the Minister of each determination, (
- c)provide the Minister with any additional information requested by the Minister under section 2
- d)receive monies transferred to it by the Minister under section 3 for the sole purpose of the distribution system operator transferring those monies to electricity suppliers in accordance with paragraph (f), (
- e)subject to subsection
- i)the meter point registration number for each domestic electricity account by reference to which the electricity supplier concerned supplies electricity, (
- ii)the meter point registration number for each low usage electricity account which is not held by a registered vulnerable customer or a holder of a hardship meter account, and (iii) the amount of monies to be transferred by the distribution system operator to the electricity supplier concerned under paragraph (f), (
- f)transfer to each electricity supplier, within the prescribed period, out of monies received by it from the Minister in accordance with paragraph (d), the amount of monies notified to the electricity supplier concerned under paragraph (e)(iii) to be used by the electricity supplier in accordance with section 5
- g)keep records of all monies transferred to electricity suppliers under paragraph (f), (
- h)receive monies repaid to it by electricity suppliers under section 5
- i)as soon as practicable, repay to the Minister— (
- i)any monies received by it from the Minister in accordance with paragraph (
- d)that are not required to be transferred to electricity suppliers in accordance with paragraph (f), and (
- ii)any monies repaid to it by electricity suppliers under section 5
- j)perform such other functions as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, may, for the purposes of the efficient operation and administration of the No. IV Scheme, prescribe, and (
- k)make available to an auditor appointed by the Minister all books and records in relation to the performance by the distribution system operator of the functions conferred on it by or under this Act.
- e)in respect of a payment period shall— (
- a)be a date that is not earlier than the date of receipt of monies by the distribution system operator in accordance with subsection
- b)use monies received by it under paragraph (
- a)for the sole purpose of making electricity costs emergency benefit payments to domestic electricity accounts that are not, subject to paragraph (
- c)and section 6 , low usage electricity accounts, (
- c)notwithstanding that a domestic electricity account is a low usage electricity account, subject to section 6 , make an electricity costs emergency benefit payment where the holder of the account is or is eligible to be a registered vulnerable customer or holds a hardship meter account, (
- d)keep records of— (
- i)all monies received in accordance with paragraph (a), (
- ii)all electricity costs emergency benefit payments made by it in respect of accounts that are not low usage electricity accounts, and (iii) in respect of low usage electricity accounts, all electricity costs emergency benefit payments made by it under paragraph (
- c)and section 6 , (
- e)as soon as practicable, repay to the distribution system operator any monies received by it in accordance with paragraph (
- a)that have not been used for the purpose of making electricity costs emergency benefit payments and keep records of any such repayments, (
- f)perform such other functions as the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, for the purposes of the efficient operation and administration of the No. IV Scheme, prescribe, and (
- g)make available to an auditor appointed by the Minister all books and records in relation to the performance by the electricity supplier of the functions conferred on it by or under this Act.
- a)affirm the refusal to make the electricity costs emergency benefit payment, or (
- b)on being satisfied that the final customer is or is eligible to be registered as a vulnerable customer or is the holder of a hardship meter account, make the electricity costs emergency benefit payment.
- a)state the reasons for the refusal, and (
- b)specify the period (being not less than 28 days from the date on which the final customer concerned is informed of the decision under subsection
- a)The Minister shall, out of such monies as are available to him or her from monies provided by the Oireachtas, and with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, allocate such amounts as he or she determines for the purposes of the Submeter Support Scheme II. (
- b)The amount allocated under paragraph (
- a)shall not exceed €1.25 million. (
- c)The Minister shall estimate the amount required to be allocated under paragraph (
- a)for the purposes of making submeter support scheme payments under section 9
- a)notify each electricity supplier concerned of the amount of monies to be transferred by the Minister to the electricity supplier concerned under paragraph (b), and (
- b)transfer to each electricity supplier concerned, within the prescribed period, from the monies allocated under section 7 , the amount of monies to be used by the electricity supplier for the sole purpose of the Submeter Support Scheme II, in accordance with section 9 .
- a)on the request of the Minister, determine the number of supplier submeter accounts it holds on such date (in this Act referred to as the “applicable date”) as the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, prescribe for the purposes of this paragraph, (
- b)as soon as practicable after it has made each determination under paragraph (a), notify the Minister of each determination, (
- c)provide the Minister with any additional information requested by the Minister under section 7
- e)use monies received by it under paragraph (
- d)for the sole purpose of making submeter support scheme payments to supplier submeter accounts, (
- f)keep records of— (
- i)all monies received by it under paragraph (d), and (
- ii)all monies transferred to supplier submeter accounts under subsection
- g)as soon as practicable, repay to the Minister any monies received by it from the Minister in accordance with paragraph (
- d)that are not required to be transferred to supplier submeter accounts in accordance with subsection
- h)make available to an auditor appointed by the Minister all books and records in relation to the performance by the electricity supplier of the functions conferred on it by or under this Act, and (
- i)perform such other functions as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, may, for the purposes of the efficient operation and administration of the Submeter Support Scheme II, prescribe.
- a)to ensure that the distribution system operator and electricity suppliers have in place such administrative and operational arrangements that the Commission considers necessary or expedient for the performance by them of the respective functions conferred on them by or under the Act of 2024 for the purpose of the efficient operation of the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme IV; (
- b)to ensure that the electricity suppliers have in place such administrative and operational arrangements that the Commission considers necessary or expedient for the performance by them of the respective functions conferred on them by or under the Act of 2024 for the purpose of the efficient operation of the Submeter Support Scheme II; (
- c)to take such steps as are necessary to ensure the distribution system operator and electricity suppliers perform the respective functions conferred on them by or under the Act of 2024; (
- d)to report to the Minister, at such intervals as are agreed by the Commission and the Minister, in relation to the performance by the distribution system operator and electricity suppliers of the respective functions conferred on them by or under the Act of 2024; (
- e)to consider any objection made to the Commission under section 6
- f)in respect of each payment period referred to in that section, (
- f)the prescribed period within the meaning of section 8
- b)in respect of each payment period referred to in that section, (
- g)a period in respect of each payment period for the purposes of section 5
- a)functions of the distribution system operator for the purposes of the efficient operation and administration of the No. IV Scheme, (
- b)functions of electricity suppliers for the purposes of the efficient operation and administration of the No. IV Scheme, (
- c)functions of electricity suppliers for the purposes of the efficient operation and administration of the Submeter Support Scheme II, (
- d)such administrative and operational matters as the Minister considers appropriate for the purposes of the efficient operation and administration of the No. IV Scheme, and (
- e)such administrative and operational matters as the Minister considers appropriate for the purposes of the efficient operation and administration of the Submeter Support Scheme II.