ESB price hike - Urgent need for energy alternatives

HOMEOWNERS and company bosses will be asked to don the hair shirt following yesterday’s dire ESB warning that electricity prices are set to rise by 10%-20% next year.

Going on past experience, the Energy Regulator is unlikely to curb the relentless escalation of ESB bills, a trend attributed by the semi-State company to higher fuel prices.

Ireland’s almost total dependence on imported oil and gas makes homeowners and industry equally vulnerable to soaring prices. As a result, domestic electricity charges went up by 3% this year, 4% in 2005, and a whopping 14% in 2004. In parallel, the cost of goods is also rising.

This punitive trend underlines the urgency of producing realistic policy proposals on alternative energy sources, ranging from wind and wave to solar energy, and even the possibility of nuclear power.

It’s time this Government got its finger out.