The national electricity grid operator EirGrid yesterday secured leave from the High Court to challenge a direction by the electricity regulator on its separation from the ESB. EirGrid's application for a Judicial Review of the direction is separate to a High Court action by the regulator, Mr Tom Reeves, who has sought an order to impose the direction.
The action by the grid company before Mr Justice McKechnie marks an escalation of its dispute with Mr Reeves, whose direction followed his intervention last year in talks between the ESB and EirGrid on the separation process. It is thought that the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has favoured the structure proposed in Mr Reeves's direction.
EirGrid wants responsibility for functions relating to safety and design of the transmission grid and claimed these should have been allocated to it in Mr Reeves's direction.
The direction on November 20th last was anti-competitive and unlawful and would allow the ESB to control its competitor's access to the market, EirGrid claimed.
The grid operator's separation from the ESB is required to ensure fair competition in the liberalised section of the electricity market.
The company controls when power stations feed electricity into the national system. Without such a separation, the ESB could favour its own power stations over those of competitors.
Mr Michael Collins SC said an infrastructure agreement had to be reached between the ESB and EirGrid which would involve the building of new transmission lines. EirGrid was to design the system and the ESB was to build it. Such an agreement was not reached, prompting Mr Reeves's intervention.
His direction substantially prescribed the terms of the infrastructure agreement but EirGrid had refused to enter into it. The regulator issued a special summons requiring the company to do so.
Mr Collins argued that EirGrid had, under Statute, exclusive responsibility for safety and design matters regarding the transmission system and the regulator had wrongly allocated these to the ESB. It is understood that EirGrid will argue the direction means it will not have sufficient control over the operation of the grid. In terms of the necessity to ensure the fair operation of the competitive market, it would be unable to ensure non-discriminatory access.
EirGrid is understood not to be challenging the Statutory Instrument which gave the ESB ownership over the electricity network and control over its operation to the grid company.
