Good news for consumers as ESB’s big price hike is thrown out

THERE was good news for consumers last night when the energy regulator threw out the ESB’s application for a significant price hike and said it planned to keep average increases in line with inflation.

The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) said it would sanction price increases of between 2% and 3% next year, although some power users would face higher increases than others. The ESB sought an average hike of 10%.

The CER’s latest proposal documents, if implemented, mean the State-owned ESB’s revenues will fall short of its forecasts next year. The company will pay a dividend of around €77 million to the Government after a year of record after-tax profits in 2004.