Carbon taxes increase the cost of necessary household energy expenditures. In many developed countries, carbon taxes are regressive as they comprise a greater proportion of a poorer household's income. Certain socioeconomic groups are more negatively affected by these impacts than others. While...

This paper considers the design of efficient Distribution Use of System (DUoS) tariffs for the Irish electricity distribution network. We calculate indicative costreflective 'Coasian' tariff for residential, commercial and industrial consumers. Under a cost-reflective 'Coasian' structure, non...

This paper compares the distributional effects of price cap and lump sum transfer policies to aid the affordability of subsistence electricity consumption. A lump sum transfer is more progressive than a comparable price cap on all units of electricity. We identify conditions under which these...

Small area poverty estimates are important for social and economic policy, however the required data are often unavailable. This paper presents a Small Area Estimation (SAE) technique called Conditional Monte Carlo (CMC). CMC provides robust estimates of small area poverty rates, subject to...

Efficient renewables deployment requires the minimisation of both internal generation costs and external transmission expansion planning (TEP) costs. Competitive pay-as-bid connection auctions allow wind energy generators to reveal their costs of generation such that internal generation costs...

Renewable energy deployment costs comprise both internal generation costs and external locationrelated infrastructure, environmental and social costs. To minimise generation costs, competitive connection contract auctions are becoming increasingly common. Should external costs have considerable...

Energy subsidies are common. Costs are commonly recovered via an often arbitrarily set uniform consumer levy or electricity price surcharge. We show that an electricity price surcharge is optimal for an Irish case study, despite obvious price distortions. The outcome holds across both first and...

Effective planning and regulatory processes ensure orderly energy systems. Often, decisions are not made within mandated time frames or discrete consent processes are infrequent. Where multiple consent processes exist in sequence, a given delay may be compounded. These factors can negatively...

This paper evaluates the extent with which Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) reflect observed energy used for heating. We use high-frequency smart thermostat panel data in combination with building characteristics and hourly weather information. We exploit variations in boiler operation in...

This paper evaluates the predictive power of building energy performance certificates on ex-post home heat loss. Improving the insulative capacity of residential properties is a policy priority in many markets, with building energy performance certificates providing the indicative benchmark. We...