PSO (Public Service Obligation)

Fat_Fingers · 04-11-2010 01:40PM #1

from http://www.bordgaisenergy.ie

Whose decision was it to impose a levy on electricity customers?The policy and terms associated with PSO levy supported plant are mandated by Government and approved by the European Commission.

How much is the PSO levy for residential customers and how will it be charged?The PSO levy for residential customers is €2.73 (€3.10 including VAT) per month end within the period covered by your electricity bill. If the last day of two months fall in the billing period for a bill you will be charged €5.46 (€6.20 including VAT) for that bill.

Is PSO a tax? So adding VAT on tax is just a double taxation.
I was under impression that European Commission is against tax on tax?
Or is this ok because they are not calling it tax but “levy”?

zing zong · 04-11-2010 04:54PM

what the fvck is the justification for this???? :eek: you sure this is for residential customers too?

sollar · 04-11-2010 05:10PM

This is the sort of carry on our government thinks is acceptable. Just wait to we see worse now they have stated they want 6 billion in the budget.

Fat_Fingers · 05-11-2010 12:21PM

zing zong wrote: »

what the fvck is the justification for this???? :eek: you sure this is for residential customers too?

Yes, its charged to all customers. Starting from 1st October 2010. You'll get a leflet in your next bill.

zing zong · 05-11-2010 12:53PM

but why? whats it for? whats the amount based on?

Fat_Fingers · 05-11-2010 02:22PM

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/how-we-pay-euro500-a-year-in-green-stealth-tax-2290580.html

FAMILIES will soon be paying more than €500 a year in 'green taxes', new figures compiled by the Irish Independent reveal.

And in a double blow, consumers already facing a 5pc hike in electricity charges due to an environmental levy could be hit by a second price rise as early as next month.

The revelation comes as hard-pressed householders face a series of future green taxes on top of those already introduced by the Coalition.

The green levies -- totalling more than €500 a year -- are a cornerstone of the agreed programme for government between Fianna Fail and the Greens. These include:

The new electricity levy of €32.76 a year for a household.
At least €175 for domestic water charges.
Up to €275 a year in carbon taxes on petrol and diesel.
As much as €55 a year for carbon taxes on home heating oil.

Scofflaw · 05-11-2010 02:37PM

Why not aim for a little bit of accuracy? The PSO levy has been around for the best part of a decade, having been introduced by Mary O'Rourke:

The Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy is imposed through a levy originally introduced by the then Minister for Public Enterprise. This levy is imposed by the Government on all final electricity customers regardless of their supplier and is shown as a separate item on electricity bills. It is designed to recover the additional costs associated with electricity from specified sources of generation, including sustainable, renewable and indigenous sources.

The PSO levy is set by the Commission for Energy Regulation on 1st October every year to conincide with the start of the tariff year for ESB Customer Supply. In some years (such as 2008) the PSO amount is small and the levy is set to zero. In other years, however the levy may cause an increase in customers' bills. This will be the case in October 2010.

The levy originally related to the recovery of additional costs incurred by the ESB in relation to the generation and/or purchase of the output from stations generating electricity using peat and renewable sources. In relation to renewable sources there is an obligation on ESB under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 and the PSO Order 2002 (S.I. No. 217 of 2002 as amended by S.I. 284 of 2008) to buy electricity generated in this way through the Alternative Energy Requirement (AER) schemes. This requirement was put in place to ensure that a percentage of the country's available electricity is produced from indigenous fuel for security of supply reasons and to help protect the environment. The purchase of electricity from these types of generation is considered to be in the public interest.

The Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) scheme has replaced the AER and enables suppliers other than just ESB Customer Supply to draw down from the PSO fund. The primary objective of the REFIT is to aid in ensuring that at least 1,450 megawats (MW) of renewable energy based generating plant are connected to the electricity network by 2010. The REFIT terms and conditions are published on the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources website and are subject to change.

The Commission calculates and certifies the costs covered by this levy on behalf of the Government. The Transmission System Operator (TSO) and Distribution System Operator (DSO) are responsible for collecting the levy from suppliers, who in turn are responsible from collecting the levy from their customers. The TSO is then responsible for ensuring that payments from the PSO fund are distributed correctly.

From 1st October 2010 the PSO levy has been set to the following rates (Ex VAT):

Domestic Customers: €32.76/ annum or €2.73/month
Small Commercial Customers (MIC less than 30 kva): €99.03/annum or €8.25/month

The PSO has never been 'suspended', as is sometimes claimed in the media - it was set at zero in 2008 following the same set of calculations used every year - nevertheless, it still appeared on the bills.

Nor is it a 'green tax' - it wasn't introduced by the Greens, has nothing to do with the PfG, and in fact it's mostly a subsidy for peat-burning power stations the Greens would like to get rid of.

regards,
Scofflaw

Fat_Fingers · 05-11-2010 03:30PM

No offence, i know you support Greens no matter what but as far as i know Carbon Tax is Greens agenda to tax everything, from electricity to any type of fuel.
Are you going to tell me carbon tax is not been pushed by Greens ?

Scofflaw · 05-11-2010 03:51PM

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

No offence, i know you support Greens no matter what but as far as i know Carbon Tax is Greens agenda to tax everything, from electricity to any type of fuel.
Are you going to tell me carbon tax is not been pushed by Greens ?

It's not a case of defending the Greens - you're just not even vaguely right in what you're saying, so there's no case for the Green to answer. This is a decade-old levy introduced by the 1997-2002 FF/PD government, and in operation continuously since. It's not a Green initiative, and it doesn't even qualify as a 'green' initiative, since it mostly goes to fund peat-powered stations.

Essentially, you've decided that this is a "green" sort of tax, and that you therefore blame the Green Party for "implementing" it, even though that's completely incorrect. Why did you not bother to check your facts first? Have you checked them now, or will you continue to disagree on no better basis than your own ignorance?

regards,
Scofflaw

Essexboy · 05-11-2010 03:58PM

As Scofflaw says, PSO never went away but it is rather like the import tariffs on vehicles assembled outside Ireland which were introduced in the 1930s to encourage home industry.

With car assembly ceasing in Ireland, the government faced a loss of revenue so hey presto! the import tariffs were abolished and Vehicle Registration Tax was introduced. Different name, same tax.

PSO was supposed to support turf powered generation, now it is being used for a different purpose but we still get screwed!

Fat_Fingers · 05-11-2010 04:06PM

ok, i stand corrected. It was confusing as papers and some commentators state this is Greens carbon tax. I got it now, PSO is not Greens tax, its been there for long time.

if i may ask my original question. Why do we have to pay VAT on this tax? Its just taxing the tax, or am i wrong again?
Are Greens responsible for this tax on tax ? (joking

)

zing zong · 05-11-2010 06:23PM

does anybody here know how many types of tax/levies/charges we have to pay from day to day??

PAYE. VAT, car-tax etc, but can anybody us tell what the rest are, no doubt theres loads? :eek:

PSO (Public Service Obligation)

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