The Government has published a consultation document containing new legislative proposals for the liberalisation of the electricity market in Ireland.

Under a European Union directive, around 28 per cent of electric power should be open to competition. The directive must be implemented in Ireland by February 19th, 2000.

The new proposals include the establishment of an independent Electricity Regulatory Authority, headed by a director-general, which will operate the licensing regime for the industry.

The authority has a wide remit under the proposals to protect consumers, regulate the price of access to the system to ensure that market entrants are assured of fair treatment and regulate wholesale prices until sufficient competition is established to allow the market to find its own level.

An advisory committee appointed by the Minister to advise the authority will also be set up and a consumer complaints commissioner will be appointed.

The consultation document proposes separating the operation of the transmission system from the ESB and placing it in a public limited company in State ownership.

The distribution system operation will be licensed within the ESB.

The ESB's generating stations and independent power producers will be licensed as will independent power suppliers.

The market will be open to competition in respect of customers whose annual consumption is greater than four gigaWatt hours , who will be allowed to choose their electricity supplier. Some 300 industrial users would fall into this category at present.

A licensed public electricity supplier within the ESB will be established to serve all other electricity consumers.

Industry observers described the proposed new system as a very liberal free market model and similar to that operating in Britain. They said it also represented a major shift from the last government's proposals. All submissions must be received by 5 p.m. on June 30th, 1998.

Ms Rosemary Steen, IBEC's assistant director of trade and industry affairs, welcomed the report and said the employers' group would be examining it in detail in the coming weeks.

The ESB said it has received the document. "We are considering it and will be participating in the consultation process," a spokesman said.