Bord Gáis chief received 14% salary hike

BORD GÁIS boss Gerry Walsh got a 14% salary increase last year while profits slumped by over 9%.

There was no slump in the total financial package paid to Mr Walsh however.

As consumers got it in the neck his salary package rose €35,000 from €250,000 to €285,000.

Mr Walsh's €35,000 pay increase is well above the average annual industrial wage of €27,000 that most of Bord Gáis' domestic consumer clients have to live on for the year.

Meanwhile the 2003 results show the company sunk deeper into debt while consumers were charged over 9% more on their domestic bills.

If the financial crisis worsens consumers may have to dig even deeper in the years ahead.

While the results were published in Dublin yesterday, the group refused to comment on the figures.

"The chief executive was out of the country," was the initial reason given.

This is the third successive year the results have been leaked ahead of the formal publication the company confirmed. The company was not responsible for the leak. "It's just as well they don't leak gas at the same rate", joked Phil Hogan, Fine Gael spokesman on industry who reacted angrily to the latest Bord Gáis figures.

"The enormous increase in charges in respect of public utilities sanctioned by this Fianna Fáil/PD Government is outrageous. Since the last general election the boards of directors of each utility such as energy, gas and RTÉ pushed up costs to consumers on top of increases in fuel, motor tax and hospital charges all contributing to a significant reduction in living standards".

The drop in profits and soaring debt has raised fears the group's 450,000 consumers will face on-going hikes in their bills. With electricity and labour costs rising, the risk of a further 10% hike in gas bills in the near future cannot be ruled out, warned Jim Power, chief economist, Friends First.

Given the current situation the group finds further price increases cannot be ruled out.

"Typically in companies where profits are under pressure particularly in monopoly situations, a price rise is the easy option," said Mr Power.

In tight situations the record of monopolists is that they hit the consumer when under financial pressure themselves, he said. That pressure is obvious at a quick glance of the accounts showing profits down and its debt burden mounting.

Operating costs climbed €7m last year due to the larger scale of the business ate into the profit performance which fell 9.2% to €103m.

The amount of money paid to the Government on the back of its earnings fell last year from €21.7m to €9.7m.

Bord Gáis has also sunk deeper up to over e1bn by end 2003, and the threat is consumers will face a series of gas price hikes in the years ahead.