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.