Electricity bills to stay high

ELECTRICITY bills look set to remain high even after the market is fully opened to competition next week. Padraig McManus, the chief executive of the ESB, said the soaring price of oil and gas and the cost of investing in new power generation plants meant it was very unlikely customers would see bills decline.

From February 19, all domestic and business customers will be able to change electricity supplier.

While the move will benefit business customers, residential users are unlikely to have any option but to remain with the ESB as the main rival to the State-owned company, Energia, is focussed on industrial and commercial users.