Any person or company who is planning to sell or supply electricity to final customers needs a supply licence from the CER. New entrants may apply for one or more of three ‘generic’ supply licences:
‘Eligible Customer’ Supply Licence (Section 14 (1) (b) of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999)
This licence is awarded to suppliers of electricity generated from any source including electricity from coal, gas and oil plant.
‘Green’ or ‘Renewables’ Supply Licence (Section 14 (1) (c) of the Act)
This licence is awarded to suppliers of electricity that is generated from sources deemed ‘green’ as per the Electricity Regulation Act.
CHP Supply Licence (Section 14 (1) (d) of the Act)
This licence is awarded to suppliers of electricity generated from the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation process.
The main difference between the ‘eligible customer supply licence and the ‘Green’ and ‘CHP’ supply licences relates to the balancing regime faced by the supplier. For more information on this see the wholesale trading section of our Renewables section.
To read more about the CER’s decision on balancing rules for Licensed Green and CHP Suppliers under the Trading and Settlement Code click here.
The Public Electricity Supplier Licence is another type of licence. Only one such licence exists at present and it has been issued to ESB for its Customer Supply business. This licence was awarded to ESB in 2006 as per section 14(1)(h) of the Act.
The main difference between this licence and the ‘generic’ supply licences described is that additional requirements are placed on ESB Customer Supply including a duty to supply all customers who are not served by another supplier, the requirement that ESB Customer Supply tariffs are regulated by CER, the prohibition of discrimination in supply, the requirement to purchase electricity in the most economic way and the duty to adhere to certain performance targets set by the CER.
Click here to see the full Public Electricity Supply Licence.
Application Process & Requirements
Applications for an electricity supply licence are made directly to the CER. Applications must be made using the CER Supply Licence application form which is available by clicking the link below. The CER will process applications when all of the information requested in this form is submitted. At present these requirements apply for all supply licence applicants regardless of the size of the applicant’s planned supply business.
Click here to download the Supply Licence Application Form - Applications for Supply Licences supply_application_v2.1.doc (0.06 MB, File)
To read more about the requirements for applying for a licence click here to download the CER’s Guidance notes for supply licence applicants - Application for a Supply Licence - Guidance Notes for Applicants supply_guidelines_v5.doc (0.13 MB, File)
Supporting Documents & Procedures
Prospective electricity suppliers must fulfil a number of industry requirements. These requirements include the need to sign agreements with ESB Networks as the Distribution System Operator and Transmission System Owner and with Eirgrid as the Transmission System Operator and Settlement System Administrator.
For more information on these requirements please see the transmission and distribution sections of the website:
Licences in the SEM
It should be noted that the Commission has consulted on proposed modifications to Generation Licences for the Single Electricity Market. The final licences along with a final decision are now available on the All-Island Project Website (www.allislandproject.org ). Please click on this link to view all associated documents.