ESB looking for an increase of 30%

18-06-2008 12:18PM #1

Wednesday, 18 June 2008 11:08
CONSUMERS FACE RECORD 30% HIKE IN ESB BILLS - The ESB is looking for a 30% increase in the price of electricity. If granted - and it could be in early autumn - it would add about €45 to the average two-monthly bill and push the average bill for a year to more than €1,100.

As if it wasn't hard enough on us all at present we are now going to see yet another increase in the cost of living :mad:
Everything seems it will be hit with the high cost of oil but why the ESB would want such a large increase of 30% is a bit much. We will find out soon enough how much money was made by them for year '07, no doubt more profits.

If we look at 2006:

they made profits of €223 million.
they had a staff reduction of nearly five hundred, since 2001 staff numbers at ESB have reduced by 2,000 (20%).
for the first time in its history ESB connected more than 100,000 (105,127 customers) customers in a single year to the electricity networks.
we the consumer pay the carbon tax, resulting in a figure of up to €300 million a year in unearned profits on the backs of businesses and consumers. Power companies stand to make an extra €1.6 billion over the next four years by charging customers for the carbon allowances they will get for nothing.

The CER allowed both Bord Gáis and the ESB to cut their domestic charges for 2008. Fair enough the price of gas and coal has risen by about 74% and 65% respectively since the CER’s price review last year, but that still doesn't justify a hike of 30% especially when you take into consideration all the above factors also.

thecaptain · 18-06-2008 12:49PM

mate, the green movement had not even started yet.

On a side note, are you one of these green people.

"lets save the world, lets cut co2".

Well baby, this is what we are seeing here, the average worker will be using candle light and bearing the cold within ten years because of this environment scam.

You have been warned.

stovelid · 18-06-2008 12:49PM

One word: competition.

KTRIC · 18-06-2008 12:53PM

F*cking a**holes :mad:

I'm sick of whats just coming down to pure greed now. We got a gas bill when I was living in Dublin one winter after the big price hike and it was one of the few times I actually seen my girlfriend crying.

thecaptain · 18-06-2008 12:53PM

stovelid wrote: »

One word: competition.

One word, two numbers.

AGENDA 21

The outline for your future, published by the United Nations. Read it if you want to discover the reasons why things are as they are.

stovelid · 18-06-2008 12:59PM

thecaptain wrote: »

One word, two numbers.
AGENDA 21

The outline for your future, published by the United Nations. Read it if you want to discover the reasons why things are as they are.

Four words:

Provide. Link. Reduce. Hectoring.

whiskeyman · 18-06-2008 01:00PM

stovelid wrote: »

One word: competition.

Competition is out there ya know...
As is usually the case, their competitors (Airtricity, Energia etc...) will probably do likewise and apply for rakehikes too.

DarkJager · 18-06-2008 01:02PM

And once again another company tries to justify its greed by using the "fuel crisis" as leverage. Maybe we should all start asking our employers for 30% pay increases...ya know, because of the rising costs of fuel... :rolleyes:

MoominPapa · 18-06-2008 01:05PM

thecaptain wrote: »

Read it if you want to discover the reasons why things are as they are.

I'm too lazy and time strapped - wanna give us a condensed version. This will also allow you to continue in your alarmist manner

Westwood · 18-06-2008 01:11PM

unbe****inglievable :mad: as if it wasnt expensive already. myself and the girlfriend have really cut corners over the past few months to try and reduce these prices which are always at the €200 mark for two months lecy. whats everyone else avergae bill? I feel ours is very high and we dont abuse it at all....

thecaptain · 18-06-2008 01:20PM

MoominPapa wrote: »

I'm too lazy and time strapped - wanna give us a condensed version. This will also allow you to continue in your alarmist manner

No problem.

All energy supplies are to be drastically reduced. The "useless eaters" are using up too much energy. The environment movement is the chosen method of introducing this plan. The people are to be brainwashed into thinking they are damaging GAIA, they will have to pay carbon taxes on everything. Eventually the costs will exceed all but the small elite.

Hence my campaigning against the false environment scare.

The old hegelian dialectic. Produce the problem, the people react as planned and then provide the solution.

As for competition, do you read the business pages. Merger after merger has occured in the last five years, and will continue into the future as power is gather into a few hands.

John D Rockefeller said "competition is a sin".

Degsy · 18-06-2008 01:24PM

CAfe En Seine is charging 6.50 a pint now and Taxi drivers want another pay increase to help them because they're living in "poverty and hardship".The word is GREED.

whiskeyman · 18-06-2008 01:28PM

Degsy wrote: »

CAfe En Seine is charging 6.50 a pint now and Taxi drivers want another pay increase to help them because they're living in "poverty and hardship".The word is GREED.

No one is forcing anyone to pay crazy money for so many goods and services though.
The real words are ignorance and indifference.

jester77 · 18-06-2008 01:29PM

It's happening everywhere, not just Ireland.
Gas is going to go up 30% or 40% here, forget which they said!

whiskeyman · 18-06-2008 01:36PM

What will it take to shock people to really take drastic measure though to reduce energy consumption???

thecaptain · 18-06-2008 01:37PM

whiskeyman wrote: »

What will it take to shock people to really take drastic measure though to reduce energy consumption???

Why would you want to reduce energy consumption?

Glowing · 18-06-2008 01:42PM

thecaptain wrote: »

Why would you want to reduce energy consumption?

Eh, so it doesn't cost you 200 quid every 2 months ?! Didn't think it was rocket science.

Edit: My leccy bill is about 100 quid every two months, we can get that down to 70 or 80 during the summer. It's easy. Don't leave the lights on, don't leave the t.v on, don't use the tumble dryer (we don't actually have one), keep electric showers short-ish - just be concious of what you're leaving on when .....

Edit again: Oh neglected to say that a 30% ESB hike is PANTS!

thecaptain · 18-06-2008 01:45PM

Glowing wrote: »

Eh, so it doesn't cost you 200 quid every 2 months ?! Didn't think it was rocket science.

Edit: My leccy bill is about 100 quid every two months, we can get that down to 70 or 80 during the summer. It's easy. Don't leave the lights on, don't leave the t.v on, don't use the tumble dryer (we don't actually have one), keep electric showers short-ish - just be concious of what you're leaving on when .....

Mate, you are being molded. Of course if it costs more people will use less, however I would not use less based on "green" issues as they are all scare mongering.

Glowing · 18-06-2008 01:49PM

thecaptain wrote: »

however I would not use less based on "green" issues as they are all scare mongering.

Well that's up to you - I study energy systems and know the damage fossil fuels are doing to the environment, even if you DON'T take into account climate change. How can reducing our emissions (not just Co2, but methane, nitrous oxides etc) be a bad thing? Have you ever heard of acid rain?

But that's a whole different argument ....

thecaptain · 18-06-2008 01:51PM

Glowing wrote: »

Have you ever heard of acid rain?

....

Acid rain???? That was the 1980's, in the 70's it was global cooling, now it is CO2 and global warming.

The 90's was the hole in the o zone.

seamus · 18-06-2008 01:54PM

Glowing wrote: »

don't use the tumble dryer

Whatever about the easy stuff, not using the dryer simply isn't an option. Not for me anyway.

A dryer dries my clothes in about 2 hours. To dry them without a dryer takes two days. Within those two days I'll have to put on a second wash, which means that I have about 30 pieces of clothing, wet and unwearable, taking up a room in my house. And there's two of us.
We did for two months. I ended up putting on the heating in our "drying" room so that my stuff would be dry in one day instead of two. It was needless to say, much less efficient than the tumble dryer.

The government would be idiots to allow this through. They're already facing 12-18 months of recession and reduced affordability. An increase of 30% on electricity would result in crucification at the local elections.

Glowing · 18-06-2008 01:56PM

thecaptain wrote: »

Acid rain???? That was the 1980's, in the 70's it was global cooling, now it is CO2 and global warming.

The 90's was the hole in the o zone.

*bangs head off brick wall*

Edit: The o zone? Don't you mean the ozone layer? Hmm, you've done your research eh?

Westwood · 18-06-2008 02:02PM

Glowing wrote: »

My leccy bill is about 100 quid every two months, we can get that down to 70 or 80 during the summer. It's easy. Don't leave the lights on, don't leave the t.v on, don't use the tumble dryer (we don't actually have one), keep electric showers short-ish - just be concious of what you're leaving on when .....

I cant believe your lecy bills are 80 max during the summer?? is that including vat? ours are still 200+ wtf? we are very concious about what we use and dont use, its not a case of leaving lights on cause up north it dosent get dark till like 10pm most nights. the only thing I will say thats on quite a bit would be the computer!! maybe 15 hours a day sometimes more. would this have the most consumption me wonders.:rolleyes:

Glowing · 18-06-2008 02:05PM

Well we have a small house, so don't know if that makes a difference. Also we've no central heating upstairs (but very little insulation) so that shouldn't make too much of a difference either.

Putting the computer on power save should definitely help though!

stovelid · 18-06-2008 02:05PM

Westwood wrote: »

I cant believe your lecy bills are 80 max during the summer?? is that including vat? ours are still 200+ wtf?

Do you have electric heating?

We have a washing machine/dryer, electric shower etc (but have gas heating) and our bills are never more than 100, so I assume leccy heating would make up the difference.

DarkJager · 18-06-2008 02:07PM

Should we really care about global warming anymore?? The way the world is going now, its going to be a pretty ****ty place to live in 50 years anyway. Not to mention the eco friendly "biofuels" are causing a food shortage, so why do we bother?

seamus · 18-06-2008 02:07PM

Westwood wrote: »

would this have the most consumption me wonders.

Depends on how many extras you have hanging out of it, and whether you're on a standard rate or a dual rate.

Our place is all electricity - storage heaters and all. But we're dual rate. So our heating is all done at night, at half the usual price. For March/April, our bill came to €210.

The heating's been switched off for the last 6 weeks, so I don't expect it to come to more than €100 for May/June.

Glowing · 18-06-2008 02:11PM

We have oil central heating - but we use electric heaters upstairs in the winter (brrrr)!

I can't believe they're still building new houses with oil central heating by the way ....

Terry · 18-06-2008 02:21PM

Oh for fúcks sake.

Piss off casey.

MysticalSoul · 18-06-2008 02:25PM

My last bill came to €110 for two months, and gas for heating and hob came to €70 for two months, that is using a tumble drier, dishwasher etc. However apparently a dishwasher uses less energy than heating hot water does for the same job.

18-06-2008 02:34PM

thecaptain wrote: »

On a side note, are you one of these green people.

"lets save the world, lets cut co2".

I am not, besides weather changes are due to a shift in the earths magnetic poles, not rising CO2

whiskeyman wrote: »

What will it take to shock people to really take drastic measure though to reduce energy consumption???

Anyone that has been cutting back on their usage in order to lower the cost of their bills won't be too happy with this, as the increase will more or less bring their bills back up to what they were paying before cutting down on usage. Would they rather we go back to the old days of candle light :mad:

stovelid wrote: »

We have a washing machine/dryer, electric shower etc (but have gas heating) and our bills are never more than 100.

More or less the same as yourself, my bills usually between €100 - €140.

ESB looking for an increase of 30%

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