The ESB is to repay every household in Ireland after accidentally overcharging them for more than a decade.
An Oireachtas Committee heard on Tuesday the ESB misapplied a support measure for 1,500 of the largest power consumers in Ireland.
This saw households being penalised with higher bills over a 12-year period.
Consumer Columnist and host of The Home Show, Sinead Ryan, told Newstalk Breakfast what this means.
"This is a very, very strange one - not least because of the nonchalance with which it's been kind of dropped on to us," she said.
"ESB Networks is responsible for the rollout of huge big commercial customers, and also things like renewables and all that.
"The taxpayer - we - subsidise it, it's fully owned by the State.
"Since 2010, it has been collecting money off retail/domestic customers to subsidise big businesses that have huge networks and require a great deal of electricity.
"Due to an accounting error, it has over-collected what it was allowed to.
"It was collecting a percentage, rather than a fixed amount, off every single household for the last 10 years.
"It has to refund it, and it reckons it'll be about €50 per household."
The ESB operation at Poolbeg in Dublin in 2001. Picture by: RollingNewsShe said the refunds should be automatically added back to people's accounts.
"The most likely way is through its retail arm, which is Electric Ireland, through the electricity bill system.
"Probably in the same way that we are getting the cost of living energy allowances of €200.
"It should be automatic, because it was automatically taken in the first place.
"It's added on to people's bill as a kind of a levy," she added.
