The average electricity customer's network charges will see a decrease of about €6 over the next year, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities said today.
The CRU said the marginal decrease follows a detailed analysis of its annual revenue process, which found that domestic customers were overcharged between 2011/12 and 2021/22 by a total of €100.86m.
This error also meant that Large Energy Users (LEU) customers were undercharged by the same amount during this time.
The CRU said it decided to correct the LEU rebalancing error by compensating domestic customers in full within the 2023/24 tariff year - which runs from October 2023 to October 2024.
It said this compensation will be recovered from LEU customers over a three-year period, from 2023/24 to 2025/26, "smoothing" the higher network charges for these customers during this time.
The CRU said the €48 domestic bill impact of the transmission and distribution revenue allowances for 2023/24 will be offset by a €54 reduction driven by the LEU rebalancing arrangements.
This will result in a decrease of about €6 in a domestic customer's bill, it added.
It said the increase for 2024 was mainly driven by inflation and the forecast costs associated with maintaining security of supply, investing in offshore, interconnection with Europe and facilitating more renewables on the system in the delivery of the Climate Action Plan.
All electricity customers pay network charges through the bills they receive from their suppliers and they form an element of their standing charges.
The CRU said the level of these charges are calculated depending on what the requirements are for the necessary investment for the efficient, safe operation and development of the electricity grid and to ensure there is sufficient energy supply to Ireland.
