Elderly urged by ESB to use free allowances

A SIGNIFICANT number of elderly people are not fully using their free electricity allowances, ESB executive director John Campion said yesterday at the winter launch of the community-based Reach Out, Be A Good Neighbour campaign.

"Keeping warm is the best protection against winter illness, so I would urge customers to contact their social welfare office or our ESB offices and shops to ensure you are making use of your full entitlement," he said.

As part of the campaign Mr Campion said the ESB was issuing 50,000 room temperature cards so older people could check if the rooms they live in were sufficiently warm.