ESB offers €75m to help businesses cut greenhouse gas emissions

State electricity company ESB is offering €75 million to aid businesses that spend more than €200,000 a year on energy in cutting their greenhouse gas emissions.

ESB, owner of Electric Ireland, is pledging to provide the cash up front to businesses to spend on equipment that will cut their energy use.

Customers can repay the State-owned group from the savings that result, making the loan “balance sheet neutral”, the ESB said on Monday.

“Once the initial expenditure cost, borne by the ESB, is repaid, the client receives 100 per cent of the savings,” the company explained.

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ESB said its smart energy services division had aided more than 300 organisations across Ireland and Britain in cutting their bills.

Clients include manufacturer Ardagh Glass, State airports company DAA, the V&A Museum in Dundee, Scotland, and British bookie Coral Leisure.

Last year, Low Carbon Farming appointed ESB Smart Energy Services to install and manage energy centres for sustainable agriculture greenhouses in Norfolk and Suffolk in England.

Marguerite Sayers, executive director, customer solutions, said the fund would help businesses save money.

Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, welcomed the announcement.