Electricity prices ‘depend on expansion’

THE price of electricity in Ireland will rise in line with or just above the cost of living over the coming years, the board’s chief executive Padraig McManus said yesterday.

And the only way to achieve this best possible scenario, he said, was to open up and expand the market. This could be achieved by developing an all-Ireland market and building an interconnector to Britain via Wales.

The all-Ireland market would have two main players, the ESB and Viridian, with the Northern Ireland company providing the competition, particularly in the industrial and commercial sectors.