ELECTRICITY CUSTOMERS ARE to receive an €89 rebate on their electricity bills next year due to the Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy being reduced.

In a statement this afternoon, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) said that the PSO levy is set to be reduced significantly from 1 October, which will lead to rebates for both domestic and commercial electricity customers.

While domestic electricity customers are set to receive an €89.10 rebate, small commercial customers will receive €311.51 worth of a rebate.

Under this, customers will see an annual saving of €140.51 for domestic customers while commercial customers will save €475.05.

The PSO levy is currently charged to all Irish customers but is being changed as part of efforts to reduce the cost of electricity bills as winter approaches.

It is regulated and certified by the CRU every year and was brought in to support the generation of electricity from renewable, sustainable and indigenous sources.

The levy will drop to a minus figure for the first time since it was implemented, going from €263.7 million being raised in 2021/2022, to an expected minus €491.25 million in 2022/2023.

According to the CRU, this is due to changes in the design of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS).

Legislation allowing for a negative PSO levy was only introduced in June, with the CRU saying that they will now work with stakeholders to put in place a system to allow the rebates to be paid out.

“In the interim, as of October 1st, 2022, the CRU is setting the PSO levy to zero with the commitment to implement an enduring mechanism to enable payments to customers as soon as possible within the 2022/23 PSO period.”

The 2022/2023 PSO levy period goes between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023.

CRU Chairperson Aoife MacEvilly said that the decrease was positive.

“The decrease in the PSO Levy is a positive, however, its inverse relationship with wholesale fuel costs means that customers will have already seen price increases by suppliers over the last number of months,” said MacEvilly.

“We would encourage customers to renegotiate with their supplier or switch to a new provider where they could save over €300.”

The news on the rebate comes as multiple electricity providers hiked prices in July, including both Electric Ireland and Flogas.

Electric Ireland, who had previously upped prices in May, will increase prices by 10.9% at the start of August, adding an additional €165.55 per year to the average cost of electricity.