MEP questions worth of Single Electricity Market
18 June 2008
Traditional Unionist MEP, Jim Allister, has used a debate in the European Parliament on electricity production and transmission, to question the working and worth of the Single Electricity Market on the island of Ireland. Highlighting the widening differential between GB and Northern Ireland prices since the SEM came into existence, Mr Allister suggested failure to deal adequately with the ESB's monopoly was central to the negative impact of the SEM on NI prices.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
Jim Allister (NI). – Madam President, I strongly support unbundling between generation and transmission, but I would say that it needs to be thorough and I question whether it can sit comfortably with any state ownership in either sector. I say that in part from the experience of my own constituency, Northern Ireland, where we have recently entered a single electricity market on the island of Ireland, with much promise about what that would do for stability of prices.
The experience has been rather different. A couple of weeks ago I visited one of the largest consumers in my constituency. Three years ago they were paying just marginally more than the average UK price. Today, under the single electricity market in Ireland, they are paying 76% more than the average UK price. In effect they have been decoupled from GB prices, without gaining any advantage, and the primary reason is, I believe, because that single market was created without adequately dealing with the issue of the state monopoly of the ESB."
