Government measures to promote competition in the electricity market have resulted in prices being increased by around 30 per cent more than was necessary, it was claimed yesterday.
Mick O'Reilly, of the transport section of the trade union Unite, said electricity prices had risen by 67 per cent in a period in which, had the Government not pursued its policy on competition, they would have gone up by just 37 per cent.
He told the Ictu biennial conference in Bundoran, Co Donegal, that Government policy to foster competition meant prices had to be increased by more than necessary to make the sector profitable for new entrants to compete with the ESB. "If the market had been left to deal with this, costs would actually have gone down."
Mr O'Reilly said this was one issue that union leaders and employers would see eye to eye on. This was "a scandal which does not make any sense".
He believed the Government measures were aimed at "opening up the ESB for privatisation by stealth".
The conference passed a motion deploring the Government's plan, set out in a recent White Paper, to break up the ESB by removing its ownership over transmission assets.
It said this decision had been reached without consultation with the ESB unions, and was in breach of a tripartite agreement between Government, unions and ESB management in 2000.
"Conference reaffirms that Ictu must do all in its power to ensure that the ESB is maintained as a vertically-integrated utility into the future. Conference assures ESB unions that they will receive the support of Ictu in their endeavours to achieve this aim, and endorses the position of all unions in ESB that they will take whatever action is necessary to this end," says the motion.
A motion calling on Ictu to oppose any future proposals to introduce nuclear power into Ireland was sent back to the executive for consideration.
Tom Hogan, of the Waterford Council of Trade Unions, said nuclear was a costly and dirty option which would drain resources away from the development of other sources of energy such as wave or wind power. Nuclear plants, when everything was taken into account, were no "greener or cleaner" than other power-generation facilities.
Ictu general secretary David Begg said congress had drawn up a paper this year which called for a full debate on future energy needs. At that time it had considered the Government's position to be "intellectually dishonest" by ruling out any consideration of nuclear power.
He said nuclear energy was unpopular, but he believed the country could not have a debate on future energy needs by foreclosing any option.
Impact general secretary Peter McLoone completed his two-year term as Ictu president at the conclusion of the conference yesterday. The new president is Northern Ireland-based Unison official Patricia McKeown.
The new vice-president of Ictu is Siptu president Jack O'Connor.
