Congress asks Regulator to rethink ESB price hike
20 Sep 2006
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is to petition the energy regulator to 'rethink' the recent 20 percent hike in electricity prices.
This followed a meeting of the Executive Council of Congress at which unions expressed concern that the 20 percent hike could undermine pay increases secured under the latest agreement Towards 2016.
General Secretary of Congress David Begg pointed out that oil prices have being falling in recent weeks, from a high of $73 a barrel to its current price of $62.
Mr Begg said: "It is difficult to understand why electricity prices should be rising by 20 percent when the price of oil has dropped by 17 percent. Accordingly, Congress will be petitioning the Energy Regulator, Mr Tom Reeves, to rethink his recent decision."
Mr Begg said there was a compelling case to reintroduce a 'fuel variation charge' of the type that was used some years ago, as opposed to a straight percentage increase.
"If we acknowledge that we are in a period of oil price volatility, and that this impacts on electricity prices, then the fairest approach is to have a fuel variation surcharge on electricity bills. The ESB should have no problem administering this type of variable charge because they were able to do it in the past. It has the advantage of compensating the producer while being transparent to the customer," Mr Begg said.
Congress also intends to seek an early meeting of the Anti-Inflation Group, which was a feature of the last partnership agreement, Sustaining Progress and is continued under the terms of its successor Towards 2016. It is a tripartite forum involving Government, employers and unions.
ends