94. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he is aware of proposals to alter or discontinue payments to domestic microgenerators for surplus renewable electricity exported to the national grid under the Clean Export Guarantee; the person or body that has proposed or is considering such a change; whether his Department, the CRU, EirGrid, ESB Networks or electricity suppliers have been involved in discussions on such a proposal; his views on the potential impact of removing or reducing export payments on households that have invested significantly in solar PV and other renewable technologies. [66489/26]

I am aware of commentary and public concern regarding the future of payments made to domestic microgenerators for electricity exported to the grid under the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG). However, there are no proposals before my Department, nor is my Department aware of any proposal by any other bodies, to amend or abolish the CEG.

The electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland operate within a European Union regulatory regime wherein electricity and gas markets are commercial, liberalised, and competitive. Operating within this overall EU framework, responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets is solely a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) which was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity and gas markets following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999. The CRU provides a dedicated email address for Oireachtas members, which enables them to raise questions on general energy regulatory matters to CRU at oireachtas@cru.ie for timely direct reply.

In line with long standing policy on deregulating price setting, the CRU ended its regulation of retail prices in the electricity market in 2011, and in the gas market in 2014. Price setting by electricity suppliers, including remuneration for microgeneration is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published a www.cru.ie/document_group/remuneration-of-renewables-self-consumers-exported-electricity/on 1 December 2021. This decision outlined the interim arrangements for the implementation of the CEG, including eligibility criteria and remuneration methodology. In June 2024 the CRU published its decision paper Clean Export Guarantee: Enduring Arrangements to Remunerate Customers for Microgeneration Exports. That paper sets out  changes to the interim arrangements that were in place for microgeneration. That []decision includes improvements in the level of service for customers with microgeneration, such as:

• more regular payments to customers for the electricity they export to the grid;

• clearer information from suppliers on the details of the payments that customers receive for the electricity they export to the grid; and

• suppliers will have clearer information on their websites about their export tariffs.

In relation the development of tariffs under the interim CEG arrangements, the CRU set out in its decision paper of June 2024 that it is of the view that the competitive approach, whereby suppliers set their own competitive export tariffs, has functioned well and will continue.