RYAN: CABINET WAS WARNED OF BLACKOUTS
This week Taoiseach called for better early warning system on power supply crisis but...
A CABINET sub-committee on which Taoiseach Micheál Martin sits was warned more than a year ago about the threat to the country’s electricity supplies, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
This revelation contradicts criticisms made by Mr Martin this week about the lack of an ‘early warning system’ for power shortages and the threat of blackouts.
On Monday, Mr Martin claimed he and Cabinet colleagues were caught unawares by the shortage of electricity supplies that prompted three separate energy amber alerts in the space of two weeks.
However, the MoS has learned the Government was repeatedly warned about threats to Ireland’s electricity security since it came into power more than two years ago.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information reveal Environment Minister Eamon Ryan was briefed about threats to power supplies as soon as he took office
‘Providers should absorb this from their profits’
back in June 2020. The MoS has also learned the energy regulator issued a further warning to Mr Ryan 14 months ago about the threat of power cuts this winter.
When asked if the minister informed the Taoiseach or his Cabinet colleagues about the warnings from his officials and the regulator about the threat to the country’s power supplies, a spokeswoman for Mr Ryan said: ‘Early-warning reports were shared with the Cabinet Sub-committee on Environment since April 2021’.
The spokeswoman did not respond to specific queries about whether Mr Ryan directly informed the Taoiseach, who is a member of the Cabinet Sub-committee on Environment and Climate Change, of the threats to electricity supplies or if Mr Martin attended the meeting in which the minister shared the ‘early-warnings reports’.
A spokesman for Mr Martin also did not respond to queries about whether or not he attended the April 2021 meeting or if he had been briefed directly by Mr Ryan about the warnings from his officials and the regulator. Mr Ryan was first informed about the threat to Ireland’s electricity supplies in a briefing document presented to him on his first day in the office at his department on Dublin’s Adelaide Road.
Under the heading ‘Review of Security of Supply’, civil servants at the department told the Green Party leader: ‘Given the increased dependence of Ireland’s electricity system on the supply of natural gas in the period to 2030 and the increased dependence of those supplies on imports from a single source, it is considered an appropriate time to review the security of energy supply of Ireland’s gas and electricity systems’.
However, this review did not get underway until almost a full year later when, in May 2021, London-based consultants CEPA were commissioned to carry out the analysis.
The energy regulator also told Mr Ryan about the threat of power cuts this winter 14 months ago.
Correspondence from the Commission for Regulating Utilities (CRU) chair Aoife MacEvilly, warned there was a ‘real possibility that load shedding [outages] may need to be called on to protect the power system this winter 2021/2022’.
Underlining the perilous state of the country’s electricity supplies, Ms MacEvilly said there was a ‘significant risk’ to the national grid and an ‘immediate need’ to address the problem in her two-page letter to Mr Ryan on June 16 last year.
Ms MacEvilly outlined her concerns to the minister the day after she received correspondence from EirGrid in which the State agency highlighted its fears about ‘the electricity security of supply challenge’.
In its letter to the regulator, EirGrid said there were ‘imminent risks’ to supply and a ‘considerable risk of material load shedding’. It also said households would have to pay a blackout levy to avoid power cuts.
The correspondence said: ‘Any energy load shedding would of course impact on customers. The cost of reducing the risk of load shedding equates approximately to €1.50 – €2 on a domestic customer bill per month.’
Mr Ryan’s response to the regulator in June of last year indicates he was fully aware of the threat of power cuts. A week later he replied to Ms MacEvilly saying the ‘likely and substantial risk to security and supply is deeply concerning’.
In his letter – seen by the MoS – Mr Ryan said: ‘I believe it is incumbent on the CRU to consider how such a situation has arisen and how you will ensure it does not occur again in future. It would seem appropriate that the CRU would review and evaluate the performance of the market and the regulatory measures in place and consider if change to the market and or additional measures are required’.
However, more than a year later, the findings of the security review ordered by Mr Ryan have yet to be published and presented to the Government.
A spokesman for the minister last night said: ‘The Review of the Security of Energy Supply of Ireland’s Electricity and Natural Gas Systems was initiated in 2020.
‘The procurement of the technical analysis commenced in 2020 and consultants were appointed to undertake this work in early 2021. The technical analysis has been updated to include the impact of the Russian war in Ukraine on the energy system. The department expects to commence shortly a public consultation with a view to bringing the final review to Government later this year.’
Revelations about the early warnings of power outages come amid growing anger among consumers over latest crippling energy hikes.
On Friday, SSE Airtricity announced it is increasing prices from October 1, when electricity bills will rise by more than 35% and gas bills by 39%.
On top of this, the MoS has learned householders face a new ‘blackout levy’ of up to €45 because the State agency responsible for making sure there is enough electricity to power the country failed to secure back-up energy supplies.
The annual levy is set to be paid in monthly instalments on utility bills starting from October 1.
Consumer watchdog leaders and opposition TDs reacted with anger to the news that the State’s failure to provide sufficient electricity supplies will hit ordinary householders – whose electricity bills are already 67% higher than this time last year – even further in the pocket.
Consumers’ Association of Ireland policy advocate Dermott Jewell said energy companies who recorded record profits over the past year should be made to ‘absorb’ the extra costs.
Mr Jewell told the MoS: ‘In light of the enormous profits taken, the providers should be absorbing this from their profits… this is an opportunity to show goodwill at a time of extraordinary inflation. It’s overdue.’ The CRU this week confirmed plans to add €100m to charges for using the electricity transmission system in a desperate bid to cut usage and stave off power outages.
It is understood the levy will cost
€45 per household, but big energy users such as data centres will be asked to contribute to the ‘blackout levy’, which could reduce the annual cost to householders to €24.
Earlier this month the MoS revealed how EirGrid failed to secure emergency electricity supplies despite being ordered to do so by the regulator.
EirGrid was advised to buy 200 megawatts – the equivalent of the output from a small energy plant to power 140,000 homes – last year.
But just two months after the regulator announced in September 2021 that the State utility firm was ‘in the final stages’ of securing this emergency supply, EirGrid had to start the process all over again because the original deal fell through.
As a result, instead of securing back-up supplies for 2021 and this year, the State company is still trying to finalise a deal for emergency electricity for 2023.
TD Barry Cowen criticised the national grid operator for failing to secure electricity supplies. He told the MoS: ‘EirGrid did not act prudently when instructed by the CRU to procure emergency generation for winter 2022. EirGrid has since run a process which took several months and which won’t have any additional generation capacity available for another 15 months barely in time for winter 2023.’
The Laois-Offaly Fianna Fáil TD also said EirGrid’s failings have contributed to soaring household bills.
‘The cost of electricity and, separately, its carbon intensity have increased drastically due to failings by EirGrid. The security of supply issue causing the increases is separate to the international gas price spikes, which is exacerbating the matter,’ he added.
Social Democrats TD and her party’s climate spokeswoman Jennifer Whitmore said the Government should not pass on a fee caused by its ‘mismanagement’ of the energy crisis. The Wicklow TD told the MoS: ‘It is absolutely unacceptable that Government is passing this bill onto customers who are already struggling – it’s as a result of Government mismanagement of the system. Government did not prepare, did not plan and now are going to put even more stress on families trying to deal with this energy crisis.’
Referring to Mr Martin’s criticisms of the lack of an ‘early warnings system’, Ms Whitmore said it was not credible that the Taoiseach was not briefed about the looming energy crisis.
‘It’s not believable – I raised it in the Dáil last year, EirGrid have been raising it repeatedly; this problem has been known about for years.
‘What is astonishing is they weren’t prepared for it. Someone took their eye off the ball and we have been left in this crisis situation.
‘The Government needs to take responsibility rather than say they weren’t aware or blame other entities for their failures.’
‘Likely risk to supply is deeply concerning’