INCREASE IN ELECTRICITY BILLS !!!!!

Catalpa1

Hi Chaps I have an interest in Renewable energy and was perusing the CER website tonight and saw this

http://www.cer.ie/en/renewables-current-consultations.aspx?article=d7a3e817-e64d-47e4-8f50-e0b6b187ad69

On Page 10, am I reading that correctly that there will be an INCREASE in the PSO levy from ZERO to about €6.80 per domestic bill?????? and Small and medium business will go up by about €23 per bill.
I know its not the ESB or BGE or aIRTRICITY fault as such that this comes from CER and ALL supplier will have to impose this but we are all screwed at the moment and if you boys are thinking of a price reduction this is going to negate it. Also when will this take effect.

hellboy99

Catalpa1 wrote: »

Also when will this take effect.

1st of October this year by the looks of it :rolleyes:

ESB CS: Chris

Hi Catalpa1,

Until such time as CER publishes its final decision on the 2010/2011 Public Service Obligation (PSO) Levy and other regulatory price inputs, which will take effect from 1st October 2010, we are not in a position to comment.

Many thanks
Chris

Heroditas

Catalpa1 wrote: »

I know its not the ESB or BGE or aIRTRICITY fault as such that this comes from CER and ALL supplier will have to impose this but we are all screwed at the moment and if you boys are thinking of a price reduction this is going to negate it. Also when will this take effect.

Such is the price to pay for renewable energy.
Just watch as the % of renewable energy rises and the PSO levy rise to reflect this mix.

hellboy99

900 disconnections a month and a price increase in a few weeks, got to love this country :rolleyes:

Poly

Talked with a friend who owns a shop, he has massive ESB bills due to fridges, lighting etc. He told me the ESB hike will probably put him out of business,

Well done ESB

Fnergg

Poly wrote: »

Talked with a friend who owns a shop, he has massive ESB bills due to fridges, lighting etc. He told me the ESB hike will probably put him out of business,

Well done ESB

If you paid the slightest attention to the news about the re-introduction of the PSO Levy you would realise that it was (a) imposed by the Regulator and not the ESB and that (b) it will be applied by all electricity suppliers and not just ESB.

Regards,

Fnergg

ESB CS: Chris

Talked with a friend who owns a shop, he has massive ESB bills due to fridges, lighting etc. He told me the ESB hike will probably put him out of business,

Well done ESB

Hi Poly,

I appreciate that it is a difficult time for most business owners at the moment and I can understand the difficulties your friend may be facing to keep his business going.

The Public Service Obligation (P.S.O.) levy will apply to all electricity users, not just customers of ESB Customer Supply.

The C.E.R. have a website for energy customers and there is an explanation of the P.S.O. levy here.

Government policy requires ESB to produce or buy electricity generated from peat and other environmentally friendly forms of energy. This requirement is in place to ensure that a percentage of the country’s available electricity is produced from native fuel for security of supply reasons, and to help protect the environment.

The levy arises because of costs incurred by electricity utilities, including ESB, in meeting these obligations. The calculation is based on the additional costs of using peat, renewable and alternative sources of energy to generate electricity. The method used to determine these has been approved by both the relevant Government Department and the C.E.R.

Many thanks
Chris

hellboy99

Fnergg wrote: »

PSO Levy imposed by the Regulator and not the ESB

True but, why doesn't the ESB absorb some of it's own costs and do more to help lower bills especially at a time were we are hearing reports of 900 disconnections a month.

The ESB recently reported profits of almost €600m, over the last two years businesses have been closing, others struggling to stay afloat, people have been losing jobs, have seen their wages cut and many struggling to make ends meet and yet the average pay and overtime for the ESB's 7,783 employees in 2009 was €75,500, that was before they were given a 3.5% pay rise just five months after a 17.5% surge in electricity prices.

And to top that off, ESB chief executive Padraig McManus was paid more than €750,000 last year. According to the ESB's annual report his overall salary for 2009 was just over €432,000, he agreed to a 10% salary cut in April 2009, but with pension contributions, fees and other perks his salary tipped over €750,000. That is well above the €500,000 cap on salaries for bank executives imposed by the government.

Fnergg

hellboy99 wrote: »

True but, why doesn't the ESB absorb some of it's own costs and do more to help lower bills especially at a time were we are hearing reports of 900 disconnections a month.

The ESB recently reported profits of almost €600m, over the last two years businesses have been closing, others struggling to stay afloat, people have been losing jobs, have seen their wages cut and many struggling to make ends meet and yet the average pay and overtime for the ESB's 7,783 employees in 2009 was €75,500, that was before they were given a 3.5% pay rise just five months after a 17.5% surge in electricity prices.

And to top that off, ESB chief executive Padraig McManus was paid more than €750,000 last year. According to the ESB's annual report his overall salary for 2009 was just over €432,000, he agreed to a 10% salary cut in April 2009, but with pension contributions, fees and other perks his salary tipped over €750,000. That is well above the €500,000 cap on salaries for bank executives imposed by the government.

Let's put all this in context:

• ESB paid a dividend of €280 million to the Governement in 2009.

• Over the last 8 years the amount paid by the ESB to the Govt was €815 million

• Also in 2009 ESB paid €400 million in support of the market in order to stabilise and reduce prices for all customers including those of its competitors. I'd like to see an example of any other business anywhere doing something like that.

• The profit in 2009 was €580 million. This was an increase of €307 million on 2008 but this was due to a once-off sale of generation plant to the Spanish company Endesa.

• ESB contributed €2.7 billion to the Irish economy in 2009.

• Capital investment in 2009 was €900 million.

• Over the last decade the company's investment in Transmission and Distribution infrastructure was €6 billion resulting in one of the safest and most reliable electricity infrastructures in the world.

The ESB has always been a very well managed company and unlike some other semi-states has never needed a penny from the taxpayer by way of bailout.

Beware of statistics quoting salary levels. The impression might be given that every employee in the ESB is earning €75k+ and I'm sure the hundreds of clerical staff - amongst others - in the company would dearly love if it were true. Most assuredly it is not.

As regards McManus' reported earnings I think that for a CEO of a company with such an impressive track record he is probably being under-paid. Look at the CEOs of some other companies who are earning many multiples of that amount. I'm sure that he could easily have left the ESB for much greater rewards had he wanted to.

McManus is probably the best and hardest working Chief Executive the ESB has ever had. He has a breadth of vision and strategic thinking that is sadly lacking in other aspects of Irish commercial and political life.

And please don't compare him with bankers - we all know what they have done to the country.

Regards,

Fnergg

hellboy99

Fnergg wrote: »

Let's put all this in context:

• Over the last decade the company's investment in Transmission and Distribution infrastructure was €6 billion resulting in one of the safest and most reliable electricity infrastructures in the world.

The ESB has always been a very well managed company and unlike some other semi-states has never needed a penny from the taxpayer by way of bailout.

Why then do we have to subsidise two loss making peat burning plants to the tune of €72M that aren't even reliable ?

Cookie_Monster

Fnergg wrote: »

The ESB has always been a very well managed company and unlike some other semi-states has never needed a penny from the taxpayer by way of bailout.

When you charge well over the odds for your product you can afford to be though.

If they are so well managed why is the average salary so high, why are they not properly controlling costs. Why is the pension deficit so massive. Why are they operating peat plant which are hugely inefficient compared to oil and gas, that doesn't sound like good management either...

cardol

"The PSO levy is set by the Commission for Energy Regulation on 1st October every year to conincide with the start of the tariff year for ESB Customer Supply. In some years (such as 2008) the PSO amount is small and the levy is set to zero. In other years, however the levy may cause an increase in customers' bills. This will be the case in October 2010."

If we get another winter like the one we had last year, then we are all screwed.

"This requirement was put in place to ensure that a percentage of the country's available electricity is produced from indigenous fuel for security of supply reasons and to help protect the environment. The purchase of electricity from these types of generation is considered to be in the public interest."

A lovely environment that we can't afford to live in. Unless we work in Goverment:mad: It's certainly not in my best interest to struggle to pay this hike in prices, unless I'm missing the point?:rolleyes:

Zen65

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Why is the pension deficit so massive. Why are they operating peat plant which are hugely inefficient compared to oil and gas, that doesn't sound like good management either...

Pretty much all pension funds are in deficit in this country. The term "deficit" has a particular meaning for pension funds that is related to future expectations rather than past performance. I think I read recently the ESB fund has sorted its pension issues? That would be fairly impressive management if it's true!

The decision to use peat for electricity generation is driven by Government policy, not by the ESB company. I think that ESB & some consortium in Edenderry are the only companies who now use it to deliver the target amount of indigenous generation. Peat is inefficient, but not particularly unreliable compared to wind or solar energy.


Cheers,

Z

Frankie5Angels

Poly wrote: »

Talked with a friend who owns a shop, he has massive ESB bills due to fridges, lighting etc. He told me the ESB hike will probably put him out of business,

Well done ESB

The ignorance of some people really is quite astounding sometimes.:pac: