Energy Update: Direct Lines Bill

An Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2026 is before Dáil Éireann. It is intended to amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (the “1999 Act”) to provide for the permitting and regulation of direct lines.

It follows an earlier policy statement which we looked at here: Energy Update: Private Wires Policy Statement.

The problem with the existing regime

The explanatory memorandum accompanying the Bill notes that Ireland’s current direct lines framework under section 37 of the 1999 Act has proven extremely restrictive in practice and has stopped all development of private wire infrastructure, despite provisions under EU electricity market legislation permitting such arrangements. We analysed the background to this in our previous briefing: Private Wires: First Principles.