ICMSA wants government to order ESB to cut electricity unit costs

THE Government should order the ESB to cut electricity costs by 4.2c per unit to bring Ireland in line with Britain, according to ICMSA president Jackie Cahill.

The milk group leader said, while he accepts that energy prices are to some extent determined by international trends and despite some recent improvement, electricity prices are still higher than can be justified.

Mr Cahill said: “The tariff rate charged to farmers in Ireland is 4.2 cent per unit higher than in the UK and 2.5 cent per unit higher than the average of the EU. On the industrial side, electricity in Ireland is still above the average of the EU and about 1 cent per unit above the comparable tariff in the UK.

“The Government, as the single shareholder on our behalf in the ESB, should instruct the ESB to reduce electricity prices immediately and to benchmark Irish electricity prices against the levels applicable in the UK and other EU states.”

The ICMSA said Ireland has one of the highest electricity costs within the EU. It also said Ireland seems to be in the process of trying to create an artificial market. This second aspiration is both unrealistic and contrived and is doomed to failure, Mr Cahill told attendees at the ICMSA’s recent annual conference in the Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick.

“We should cut to the chase,” said Mr Cahill. “We should benchmark our electricity prices to those applying to the UK – which is a real and functioning market – and abolish the Commission for Energy Regulation and let the relevant minister take back responsibility and accountability.

“The farce that we see at present means that no-one is accountable for the hugely significant difference between us and our nearest competitor, and that difference rests on the extraordinary salaries paid to the utility workers.

“We pay the highest salaries of any utility company in Europe and that high level of salaries is linked directly to the fact that we pay amongst the highest electricity charges in Europe.

“If the prices being charged by the ESB at present are realistic or in any way market-orientated then it should be possible for them to export electricity at the prices they charge their unfortunate Irish customers.”

The ICMSA raised the issue of pay to ESB employees in January 2009, estimating an average employee’s salary at the electricity supplier at €90,000 per annum.