Free Lekky ..........only in Ireland.

MidlandsM

so fcuking sick of this place...........its gets worse....:rolleyes:

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/varadkar-some-esb-staff-getting-free-electricity-483879.html

AlmightyCushion

"Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar has claimed that the ESB is giving free electricity to some of its staff"
Claimed is the important word. They can claim what ever the fúck they like without any proof to back it up.

General Zod

MidlandsM wrote: »

so fcuking sick of this place...........its gets worse....:rolleyes:

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/varadkar-some-esb-staff-getting-free-electricity-483879.html

If it's part of their remuneration package what's the issue?

Quazzie

Perk of the job tbf. Everyone has them. Theirs are better than some. Hardly groundbreaking news.

MidlandsM

General Zod wrote: »

If it's part of their remuneration package what's the issue?

why should they get a free supply from the company you and I own, especially as they disconnect the poor and needy on the breadline ? Get of yer high horse's you fools and grow a set.

AlmightyCushion

Quazzie wrote: »

Perk of the job tbf. Everyone has them. Theirs are better than some. Hardly groundbreaking news.

It's a pretty sweet perk though if it is true. I'd love to have it. I'd leave the kettle under a dripping tap and tape the boil button down before I left the house every morning, just because I could.

aidan_walsh

MidlandsM wrote: »

why should they get a free supply from the company you and I own ?

Perk of the job, not perk of ownership.

Guy:Incognito

MidlandsM wrote: »

why should they get a free supply from the company you and I own ?

Would it make you feel better if they paid them more but charged them for their electricity? Whats the difference?

MidlandsM

aidan_walsh wrote: »

Perk of the job, not perk of ownership.

Bollox.:mad:

Elevator

Quazzie wrote: »

Perk of the job tbf. Everyone has them. Theirs are better than some. Hardly groundbreaking news.

well as long as they're working within the tightened perks thingy the government brought in few years back they'll be ok

MidlandsM

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

"Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar has claimed that the ESB is giving free electricity to some of its staff"
Claimed is the important word. They can claim what ever the fúck they like without any proof to back it up.

now, you know its true if its been highlighted. Only a formality to verfiy it now.

TheZohanS

MidlandsM wrote: »

Free Lekky ..........only in Ireland.

Lekky is innocent.

AlmightyCushion

MidlandsM wrote: »

now, you know its true if its been highlighted. Only a formality to verfiy it now.

No we don't know it's true, it very well maybe but we don't know. He's only claiming it's true, he hasn't given us any proof, it's just a claim. I could claim that this Leo fella use to be in Fair City, doesn't make it true.

seamus

I've never worked for a company supplying end-consumer products/services and not been able to avail of a discount of some kind or another on their products. And the same goes for pretty much everyone I know. People who work in shops get staff discounts, people who work for mobile operators get flat-rate bills, people who work for microsoft get to buy expensive software for next to nothing and get free subscriptions to expensive services.

While free electricity is a massive perk/bonus/benefit (€2k/year?), it's not remotely surprising that a member of the ESB staff, be it board or lowly call centre worker, gets some kind of discount.

Typical sensationalist nonsense from the media. If the guy wasn't getting free electricity, he would be getting an extra €5k in his salary. Big fncking deal.

red menace

Fine Gael really scraping the bottom of the barrell on this one,
I await a story where they demand that high paid RTE execs pay full price in the Canteen

TouchingVirus

Perk of the job. Some UPC workers get free TV and Internet. Some Meteor workers get their phonebills paid for. Par for the course, hardly groundbreaking. If we didn't give them that perk there'd be another "you'd" pay for - either higher wages or something else.

biko

Not only in Ireland, apparently Pakistan and India too it is claimed.

MidlandsM

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Some UPC workers get free TV and Internet. Some Meteor workers get their phonebills paid for. Par for the course, hardly groundbreaking.

they're private co's.

AlmightyCushion

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Perk of the job. Some UPC workers get free TV and Internet. Some Meteor workers get their phonebills paid for. Par for the course, hardly groundbreaking. If we didn't give them that perk there'd be another "you'd" pay for - either higher wages or something else.

I was actually talking to a guy who works for UPC. He should be getting free 30Mb broadband free of charge but their network doesn't service his house so he has to pay for eircom broadband. How annoying would that be.

MazG

Some hotel/restaurant employees get free food when they're on duty
Some leisure centre employees get free gym memberships
Some shop employees get discounts
Some travel company employees get free travel
Some accountants/engineers/lawyers/other professionals get their professional body memberships paid by their employers
Some sales/distribution people get company cars/vans
Some brewery employees get free beer
etc.. etc...

And, it is alleged, ESB employees get free electricity.

Can't see the problem here, it's all part of the remuneration package. This is what you get for working here: X Salary, X bonuses (if applicable) and X Benefit in Kind (BIK).

If, however, the BIK isn't being taxed... well then, given that ESB is a semi-state entity, that is something that would need to be addressed

red menace

they're private co's.

So only private companies should have benifits?

bonerm

red menace wrote: »

Fine Gael really scraping the bottom of the barrell on this one,
I await a story where they demand that high paid RTE execs pay full price in the Canteen

I once tried to get a discounted lunch in the RTE canteen, but they'd heard all the excuses.

Also has anyone else taken an instant dislike to Varadkar for no reason (or perhaps good reason)? Something amazingly smackable about his face I find. Doubly troubling considering FG appear to be grooming him for future leadership. I'd hate to see him as Taoiseach one day.

Orando Broom

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's a pretty sweet perk though if it is true. I'd love to have it. I'd leave the kettle under a dripping tap and tape the boil button down before I left the house every morning, just because I could.

I'd have three X-Boxes running simultaneously so I could flit between games at my whim.

TouchingVirus

MidlandsM wrote: »

they're private co's.

Oh, so when Eircom was Telecom Eireann you'd have been mad about people getting free phone but now you don't care?

It's a perk, there is nothing wrong with it.

@AlmightyCushion: I'd be sick if that happened. Nothing like a bit of free 30meg internets

If I had free electricity I would buy some oil heaters, heat up the whole house 24/7 and open the windows to regulate the temperatures. It might even melt the snow in the Garden. Woo woo, milk the taxpayer!

AlmightyCushion

TouchingVirus wrote: »

@AlmightyCushion: I'd be sick if that happened. Nothing like a bit of free 30meg internets

If I remember right, he was only able to get 1Mb as well because he was so far away from the exchange.

Orando Broom

MazG wrote: »

Some hotel/restaurant employees get free food when they're on duty
Some leisure centre employees get free gym memberships
Some shop employees get discounts
Some travel company employees get free travel
Some accountants/engineers/lawyers/other professionals get their professional body memberships paid by their employers
Some sales/distribution people get company cars/vans
Some brewery employees get free beer
etc.. etc...

And, it is alleged, ESB employees get free electricity.

Can't see the problem here, it's all part of the remuneration package. This is what you get for working here: X Salary, X bonuses (if applicable) and X Benefit in Kind (BIK).

If, however, the BIK isn't being taxed... well then, given that ESB is a semi-state entity, that is something that would need to be addressed

Bin men get free rubbish.

Weathermen get free weather.

listermint

Perks!!

Yes the same perks would be cut in any fully private enterprise if they needed to pursue cost cutting excercises. Which frankly with the cost of the wage bill in the ESB we do! . That place is an enflated balloon being sustained by high electricity prices. Anyone who thinks perks cant be slashed is frankly an idiot. We have to examine all facets of public / public private enterprise over the next few years. Those who think any different have their heads in the sand.

Wage bill ..... inc

STAFF costs at ESB continue to escalate despite widespread deflation with new figures showing the average pay and pension cost per worker is heading towards €100,000 a year.

The figures are included in a document circulating in the bond market as the company looks to raise another tranche of funding.

The company told the Irish Independent yesterday that a comprehensive cost review programme is now “ongoing’’ within ESB.

The company’s financials for the six months to June 2009 show “total employee-related costs” now come to €388.2m, which if repeated over the full year would amount to €776.5m.

This is the total cost of employees taken into the profit and loss account.

Pension

According to the last annual report the company employs 7,870 staff, which would leave pay and pension costs for each employee costing on average €98,678 per head.

The chief reason for the growing costs are crippling pension costs caused by poor stock market returns, but basic salaries are also up due to ESB paying two national pay agreements.

The document gives a full breakdown of ESB employee costs in the six months to June 2009, measured against the same period of 2008.

Salaries in the half year of 2009 totalled €259.4m, up from €246.8m, in the previous period, a rise of 5pc. The company paid out €21m in overtime, which was down on €28m in the previous year.

The company managed to cut back other benefits – travel, expenses and holiday leave – from €22m to €18.9m.

Asked to comment on the cost issues, the company provided a statement, citing a rising pension charge and higher wage costs.

“The higher total employee- related costs at June 2009 compared with the prior period reflect a higher pension charge due to the poor performance of the financial markets.

Salary costs have increased because of the impact of national wage agreement increases in early and late 2008 (2.5pc and 3.5pc respectively),” said the company.

“This has been partially offset by the impact of staff exits. A comprehensive cost review programme is ongoing within the ESB group which addresses staff and other cost areas,” it added.

The document also reveals that ESB has made a gain of €265m from the sale of several power stations to the Spanish energy giant Endesa in the six months to the end of June 2009.

This left the company posting a pre-tax profit of €525m in the period, almost twice the profitability of the same period in 2008.

The document also reveals that turnover at ESB has dropped slightly for the first half of 2009 to €1.65bn, down from €1.67bn in the previous year.

The sale of the power stations to Endesa could allow the company to pay a higher dividend than usual to the Government.

However it may come under pressure from unions to use the money to lower the pension deficit which stands at €2.6bn.

There engineers do a sterling job in some conditions. But i know so many of them personally who will tell you outright it was a gravy train job.

TouchingVirus

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If I remember right, he was only able to get 1Mb as well because he was so far away from the exchange.

You got them anti-depressants, didn't you? Because I'd take that turn of events pretty hard. Dream:: Yay UPC, free entertainment for life! ... Reality: 1mb, from Eircom, paid for by me and TV from Sky paid by me.


FUUUUUUUUUUUU

MazG

Orando Broom wrote: »

Bin men get free rubbish.

Weathermen get free weather.

Sir Gallagher

Another outraged citizen moaning about something which is none of their business, this sh1te is getting tiresome at this stage.

MidlandsM

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Another outraged citizen moaning about something which is none of their business, this sh1te is getting tiresome at this stage.

Well don't post then in reply.:rolleyes: ......and it is my business and yours but maybe your too much of a moron to realise that?

AlmightyCushion

MidlandsM wrote: »

Well don't post then in reply.:rolleyes: ......and it is my business and yours but maybe your too much of a moron to realise that?

Banned.

TouchingVirus

Ohhhhhh... that's your perk

chakotha

Yeah they should be paying benefit in kind tax on it if it is true.

starbelgrade

Free electricity?

In the current climate?

They really need to come back down to earth.

It's this kind of thing that makes me wanna blow a fuse.

FlutterinBantam

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Another outraged citizen moaning about something which is none of their business, this sh1te is getting tiresome at this stage.

How do you arrive at the conclusion that this is none of our business?

MazG

How do you arrive at the conclusion that this is none of our business?

Well, is it really any of our business exactly how the remuneration package of employees of semi-state bodies is made up? So long as BIK taxes are being paid, I don't see this as being a problem. So long as the overall level of remuneration is appropriate, given current budgetary constraints, then how it is made up is really none of my concern

Sir Gallagher

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Another outraged citizen moaning about something which is none of their business, this sh1te is getting tiresome at this stage.

MidlandsM wrote: »

Well don't post then in reply.:rolleyes: ......and it is my business and yours but maybe your too much of a moron to realise that?

Well... i....never!! :pac:

kincsem

Please don't tell me Central Bank staff get free cash.

mailforkev

Hardly a shocking revelation.

They get a staff discount on their electricity, not sure if it depends on your position or years working there any more.

I know it was 50% in some cases, was hardly a secret and certainly is nothing new, Varadkar must have only just discovered it. They also used to get a discount in the now-closed ESB shops, fairly basic perk.

Staff in Brown Thomas get a discount on stuff sold there, yet some people can't afford to shop in BT. Same deal Leo.

charlemont

MidlandsM wrote: »

so fcuking sick of this place...........its gets worse....:rolleyes:

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/varadkar-some-esb-staff-getting-free-electricity-483879.html

Do you feel the same about Free Internet:D

Dudess

"Get off your high horse!" - the standard response by someone who doesn't like another person reasonably advising them of the flaws in their argument and doesn't have anything else to retort with.
From the same family as "FACT" as concrete proof that an unsubstantiated claim/an opinion is actually the irrefutable truth.

ejmaztec

A lot of TDs should get free electricity, 50,000 volts each whilst strapped to a chair.

Dempsey

Employees get BIK from company shocker!!

Seems that begrudgery has taken a new low...

Paparazzo

MidlandsM wrote: »

Bollox.:mad:

The only "bollox" is your "only in Ireland" bit in the subject.
"Only in every company in the world" is more apt. I think the Joe Duffy callers are the only people who would be outraged by this

Ste.phen

Someone asked this a few weeks ago and was told no
Also:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1130/esb.html

'ESB denies free electricity for staff'

Mike 1972

mailforkev wrote: »

Hardly a shocking revelation..

I saw what you did there :pac:

FlutterinBantam

MazG wrote: »

Well, is it really any of our business exactly how the remuneration package of employees of semi-state bodies is made up? So long as BIK taxes are being paid, I don't see this as being a problem. So long as the overall level of remuneration is appropriate, given current budgetary constraints, then how it is made up is really none of my concern

And who decides on whether these parameters are being adhered to.?

Look, we took our eyes off the banks which were pvt companies and look what happened.

The ESB is a semi-state, therefore it behoves the taxpayer who funds them to be interested on how the company is run.

As a taxpayer I am very interested in how these companies are run.

mike65

ESB workers must be the most cosetted in the country.

parker kent

It happens in other countries too, so the "only in Ireland" line is a bit ridiculous. People throw that line out despite often having zero knowledge of what actually happens in other countries.

RoundyMooney

mike65 wrote: »

ESB workers must be the most cosetted in the country.

That's somewhat of a throwaway remark from someone who's been on here eighteen hours a day, for years. No offence like.

People should take a more rounded view than believing everything that the likes of the Sindo tell them about profitable semi state companies that pump profit back into the exchequer year on year, and maintain infrastructure to the highest standard without additional expense to the state.

Profit levels would be a lot more reasonable (as in less hard for some people to take) if the regulator didn't distort the market.

The workers do not get free electricity, they receive a discount as do many other employees.

They don't all get 100k a year either :rolleyes:

Varadkar, whom I thought had a bit more cop on, should know better than to make such populist uninformed jabberings. Why didn't he go and find out first, and then make a comment if he wanted to?

I know why already, they have taken it as read that OUR pension reserve fund is shagged, and want to whip up public opinion as regards selling off the only assets we have left, our networks, railways etc.

In twenty years, when half our electrical lines are lying on ditches, brownouts are regular, our utilities require state monies each year, and the whole of Europe has outrun us in the usage of sustainable energy, we can thank the likes of Varadkar.