Operating profits at the ESB increased by 13% to €635m in 2015 as a result of its power plants being operational for a greater period of time.

The ESB's profit after tax increased by 33% in 2015 to €286m, €71m higher than the previous year.

A plant hire firm must put up a sum of money to ensure it can meet legal costs if it loses a case against a local authority over its public tendering system, the High Court has ruled.

There is something chilling about the response by Brendan Ogle, head of the ESB Group of Unions, to proposals that customers switch suppliers if a threatened strike goes ahead next month and leads to power cuts.

Electric Ireland — the retail arm of the ESB — has said that instances of it disconnecting supply to customers past due dates on their bills have fallen by 33% in the past two years and were down by over 400 in 2012.

Padraig McManus has been appointed non-executive chairman of eircom, effective 1 January 1, 2013, it was announced today.

As chief executive of the ESB since 2002, Padraig McManus has overseen huge changes in the commercial state body. He will step down later this year, leaving a rejuvenated company behind, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

ELECTRICITY bills have risen dramatically over the past 10 years, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern admitted yesterday.

ESB workers are to be handed a bumper payoff to work for the new national grid operator.

ESB Telecoms has chosen Damovo to supply it with interconnection equipment which allows other telecoms operators to access its nationwide fibre backbone.

MINISTER for Communications, Marine & Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern, has approved a €368m investment by the ESB in an environmental retrofit project at the Moneypoint power station in Co Clare.