The Cabinet will sign off on a long-awaited windfall tax for energy firms this morning.
Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan will outline a cap on all market revenue for non-gas electricity generators and a temporary solidarity contribution for companies active in fossil fuel production.
It is expected the cap will remain in place until at least the end of 2023, with the prospect for the tax applying retrospectively from earlier this year.
The European energy market links the price of gas with the price of electricity generation.
This means profits from wind and other fossil-fuel generated power plants have soared following the shortage of gas due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In Association with
The Corrib Gas field, which accounts for 100% of gas produced here, has recorded bumper profits since the beginning of the war.
Revenues at Vermilion Energy, which operates the field, have doubled to €190million for the first nine months of the year.
The Government could be in line to collect between €163.5milion and €230million in a windfall tax from the Corrib project's 2022 profits, according to forecasts.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said last month, amid a continuing surge in energy costs, that the Government would continue to provide financial support to people struggling to pay energy bills.
"We have to support people financially, we have to do that. But equally, we need to look afresh at how we consume energy, how we can reduce it and become more energy efficient," he said.
The move is in line with the implementation of a recent European Council agreement, which allows for a levy of at least 33%, in a bid to ease the burden on households amid soaring energy costs.
Under the EU agreement, a temporary revenue cap for electricity producers at €180 per megawatt hour applies. This means if a company is charging €250 per megawatt hour, the Government will collect €70.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently said that she wanted to propose a "cap on the revenues of companies that are producing electricity with low costs.
"We will propose to re-channel these unexpected profits so that the member states can support the vulnerable households and vulnerable companies", she said.
The Government introduced a number of measures in September's €11bn Budget to alleviate energy costs including three universal €200 energy credits for every electricity customer.
