'My electricity bill is like a heart attack - the government's done nothing'

Irish Daily Mirror

2 days ago

I don't know about you but I feel I am going to have a heart attack every time my electricity bill comes through the door.
I am with the ESB for my sins - I just couldn't be bothered moving to another supplier - and am sick and tired of being ripped off every two months.
My electricity bill has doubled in the last two years and no matter how many lights we stitch off or dishes we hand wash instead of using the dishwasher, we can't seem to get it down.
But if you think things are bad for us, what about small businesses? If you speak to the owners of these little shops, cafes, and small manufacturers all over the country, they will tell you that the soaring energy costs are the biggest single threat to their survival.
One man told me how his electricity costs effectively doubled from €10,000 to €20,000 a month and he had no idea how he was going to survive.
It is the same story the length and breadth of this land and the Government is all talk and no action, and is doing absolutely nothing about it.
Minister and after Minister blame the war in Ukraine for the soaring cost of gas and this in turn increases our electricity costs.
But what these useless politicians forget is that we the people own the ESB and the Minister responsible and the Government has the power to interfere and force ESB management to cut prices if they so wish.
They could start by cutting all VAT on electricity indefinitely and this would make a huge difference.
The faceless mandarins in the Department of Finance would try to stop it but should be slapped down. The country is awash with money and can well afford it.
The anger and outrage over electricity prices have also now spread to the multi-nationals and big business in Ireland.
Yesterday it was revealed that Intel, which employs over 5,000 people in this country, met with the Taoiseach Micheal Martin and a number of ministers warning about increasing energy costs.
The Government promised to sort it out but so far has done nothing.
The alarm bells should be ringing because why would these companies stay here if they can't afford to run their businesses in Ireland because of runaway, uncontrollable costs.
The fact is that Ireland has the highest electricity prices in the whole of Europe.
Yet the irony is you would expect this if the main market supplier was a privately owned utility company like they have in the UK. However we are talking about the ESB here which 100pc owned by you and me the Irish taxpayer, so something can be done to stop the constant rip up but it is not happening.
And then to make things worse the Government decides to let the ESB increase prices even further to pay for future capital investment to improve the electricity grid down the road.
The energy regulator agreed to it when they know that the people and employers are pinned to their collar trying to pay their bloody bill every month or two.
It came as no surprise to me or anyone else except the Government perhaps that a record 300,000 people are now in arrears on their electricity and gas bills.
Well what the hell does the Government expect with the prices we are being asked to pay.
The figures were obtained by the Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan and the party is doing excellent work highlighting this issue.
The Government rather than forcing the ESB to slash prices dealt with the problem in the run up to the General Election last year by giving families energy credits to offset the rising electricity costs.
It gave ordinary people some relief but now they are refusing to do it again in the run up to this year's budget. Both Micheal Martin and Paschal Donohue are using Trump's trade tariffs as a pathetic excuse not to do it.
Yet the same politicians have no problem spending up to one billion quid cutting the VAT rate in the hospitality sector.
Would it not be better spending this cash helping working class people who really need it?
The ESB say they don't cut people off who can't pay their bills - but trust me in the end they do.
That little electricity bill coming through the door is now the biggest worry for most people every night. It's time to bloody do something and cut the rates once and for all.
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