The CEO of ESB Networks has warned that costs will increase for customers in future because of the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.
Some 18,000 customers across the midlands, west and northwest of the country still have no power following the storm, which brought record-breaking gusts in excess of 183km/h to the west coast.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Paddy Hayes said that the full assessment of costs for customers will be looked at in 2026.
"It's likely that those charges which are allowed there will find their way back into the overall cost of our distribution network," he said.
"There is a cost associated by this that will ultimately be borne across the electricity network as a whole. It is a devastating and destructive storm, the likes of which we have never seen before."
There may also be no compensation for those affected by Storm Éowyn. Mr Hayes said that the public service levy is not applicable during storms.
"That (the public service levy) doesn't apply during a storm situation ... ultimately those costs will be recovered by customers generally and would increase the cost base," he said.
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Mr Hayes said the charter payment scheme that the ESB currently has in place is also not valid for storm damage or interference.
"We have a scheme at the moment, a charter payment scheme, where in the normal turn of events if customers are out because of an issue with the network, there are some charter payments.
"That doesn't apply to storms," he said.
"The Government has stepped forward and provided a Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for customers who are out of power and have been impacted by that.
"I think that that is the appropriate way to do it," he added.
Mr Hayes acknowledged the difficulty people are facing in terms of costs in the wake of the storm.
He could not give an exact figure as to how much the restoration operation was going to cost the ESB, but estimated it would be "tens of millions".
Some properties may be without power 'into the weekend'
ESB Networks has warned that some properties may remain without electricity "into the weekend".
The utility provider's Regional Manager, Siobhán Wynne, said she hopes the majority of customers will be reconnected over the next couple of days, with the remainder to be reconnected over the course of the week.
"Currently I think ... it will go into the end of the week and possibly into the weekend," she said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said that the worst impacted areas are Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, and Leitrim.
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Cavan, Longford, Sligo, Monaghan and Donegal are also impacted, she added.
A peak of over 760,000 customers were without power after Éowyn swept across the country 11 days ago.
Ms Wynne said around 3,000 crew members are currently working to restore power to those without supply.
"This includes our own crew and crews from different international utilities," she said, "and more crews from Northern Ireland are due to arrive tomorrow morning."
Fewer than 400 premises are without water, according to the National Emergency Co-ordination Group's latest update.
Restoration works are continuing with the help of crews from Austria, Finland, France, the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Norway, who are on the ground in the worst impacted areas.
Read more:
Storm Éowyn: A precursor to the extreme climate risks that lie ahead
CAO application deadline extended for those impacted by Storm Éowyn
'It is crippling' - community still in the dark almost a week since storm
