As well as setting network tariffs, the Commission sets tariffs for the public electricity supplier (PES) on an annual basis. Regulation 31 of S.I. 445 of 2001 requires that the Commission set regulated supply tariffs for customers of the ESB PES. The Commission approves PES tariffs for various customer categories and publishes these every October for application from January 1st the following year. In so doing the Commission has to consider the impact that the level of PES tariffs has on independent suppliers.
Public electricity supplier
Role of PES
- Current Role
- Future Role
Current Role
- The role of the PES at present is to operate as a universal service provider.
- The purpose of this role is to ensure that customers have all reasonable requests for an electricity supply fulfilled by at least one supplier.
- The role of universal service provider means that PES offers supply to customers on the basis of a set of regulated tariffs.
- In other countries, this role is fulfilled by former integrated monopolies. In states where competition has been introduced for a number of years, such ligation, in full or in part, has fallen away as a result of the proliferation of supply offerings available to customers.
Future Role
- PES’ role as a provider of a universal supply service is anticipated to continue with the full market opening when all customers will become eligible to choose their electricity supplier.
- As a universal service provider, the tariff charged by the PES tariff will set the benchmark against which other suppliers must compete.
- The PES tariff should be cost reflective and should reflect the underlying transmission and distribution charging policy.
- This would have the effect of facilitating retail competition, firstly, y increasing the transparency of the as Britain, New Zealand and Australia to name a few, this ob b cost inputs that make up the PES tariff, and secondly, by allowing for cost reflectivity and recovery of costs caused by the use of a particular customer category.