Yes. But so far only Airtricity which was bought by a Scottish ex British semi state has entered.Originally Posted by Gnome Chomsky
I think some of the new power stations are partnerships with the likes of Statoil but I think that ESB were only forced to give up a percentage of the supply and until these new stations are up and running they do not have the capacity to expand, hence the wait and see attitude of the big privateers.
Wrong!
Thinking can be dangerous.
You seem to know a lot about what is wrong but not too much about what is right.
We have started the drum roll and are waiting to be enlightened your smugness.
MPB
Airtricity was already in the market, when they were bought by Scottish and Southern, another non state company would be Endesa, a Spanish company, there are quite a few smaller independent's, a lot of information is available on the SEMO website.
As Heorditas alludes to, there are many changes about to happen in a quite gentlemanly arrangement. Suffice to say we are pawns in an international game.
Will we have lower prices after the game of ring a ring a rosie, that is my concern.
Heorditas seems to .prefer we didn't ask.
Regards, Pat Gill
Heroditas has not alluded to anything much. He seems to know everybody is wrong but is not keen to tell us why. Must be a KGB agent or something.
As for the topic, I am not an expert in energy supply or creation but as a business owner I have a genuine interest, especially in the price as I am firmly of the belief that business investment will seek out destinations with the cheapest source of energy supply.
My worry is FF and its relentless pursuit of placing its supporters at the money end of contracts handed out by the state, often to the detriment of the country as a whole.
How many jobs would be saved and created if we halved our energy bills? How much easier would it be for employees to accept wage reductions if energy bills were halved?
Why does the ESB have to make a profit at the expense of ordinary workers and employers when the country is in recession? Surely the fact that our energy suppliers are semi states should have been used as a means of helping the economy rather than hindering it.
[quote=MPB;2416155]
There is an ad for a mobile phone company on the radio at the moment, and it asks the question, what would it do for your business if it had €5000 extra cashflow, it would finance a van for a year or pay for .......... how much you spend on energy depends on your particular business, however for many SME's in Ireland, it is a significant overhead and any savings are worthwhile. I know that FDI companies look for cheap energy costs, however increasingly they also have their eye on peak oil and its effects, so they also consider security of supply.As for the topic, I am not an expert in energy supply or creation but as a business owner I have a genuine interest, especially in the price as I am firmly of the belief that business investment will seek out destinations with the cheapest source of energy supply.
In my opinion, a lot and much easier.
How many jobs would be saved and created if we halved our energy bills? How much easier would it be for employees to accept wage reductions if energy bills were halved?
In fairness that was the situation from the 80s to the early noughties, the ESB in the 80's had one of the lowest electricity prices in Europe, but no money was invested in new power stations, now we have gone 100% in the opposite direction.Why does the ESB have to make a profit at the expense of ordinary workers and employers when the country is in recession? Surely the fact that our energy suppliers are semi states should have been used as a means of helping the economy rather than hindering it.
One of the reasons I am insistent on countering the idea that renewable energy has to be more expensive is that there is no fuel cost, so prices can be stable, and companies like yours and ordinary members of the public, can be part owners of windfarms and reduce their costs further.
There is one other way to substancially reduce domestic electricity costs, and that is Ireland to become energy exporters and thereby get the advantages of scale.
Regards, Pat Gill
To answer one of the questions - security of energy supply is a bigger issue than cost.
Companies are eager to locate to where they know there will be minimal disruption to the grid and minimal blackouts.
Energy bills are quite low at the moment.
To put it in perspective, the energy spend of one of the biggest users in the country is approximately 3% of their overall operating budget.
So if the energy bills even took a cut of 20% - that will reduce the overall budget by 0.2%.
Energy bills for the larger users account for 2-5% of their overall running costs.
For the food industry, this figure rises to 20%.
For a lot of businesses the energy cost is the second biggest cost behind wages but it trails by a long long way.
The myth is thrown around by the large companies that energy is crippling their business. Their main gripe is that it isn't subsidized as much as it is on the continent.
That money is being used to invest in newer "green" technologies such as wind power and also to upgrade the grid. It's not all creamed off in bonuses by staff!
Regarding smaller companies (particularly SME - small/medium enterprises), I've seen countless bills for them and in many cases, the amount of waste is scandalous. Yet the companies complain that they're being charged too much. In many cases they could cut their bills by 20% with absolutely no investment.
Would they save a job by having cheaper energy bills? I sincerely doubt it in many cases. If they can't pay their energy bill then they have far bigger issues!
Apologies for being rude yesterday!
I just get frustrated when I see people having a go at the energy industry, particularly when you have the likes of fiannafailure pushing their own agenda when it has had holes picked in it time and time again.
Watch this thread now get taken over by him pushing his "solution"
P.S. There's still another large supplier that hasn't even been mentioned.
Heorditas
You made some good points there, perhaps you would debate them.
I am puzzled though, why do you think I am having a go at the energy industry, surely the energy industry is a highly regulated industry, have you considered the fact that if that regulation was amended to enable a viable route to export, the entire economy would receive a large boost with absolutely no commercial threat to the present encumbents.
As you correctly state, generation is only one of the costs faced by consumers, if those infrastructure costs were spread across export and domestic markets, they would surely fall.
You cite large users, to domestic users and small business, energy costs have a far higher impact on their bottom line. 5 per cent of income is lot for someone on 30k a year.
You mention security of supply, what is your forecast on the price of gas over the next decade, that will have a large impact on a country that depends very heavily on gas for its energy supplies.
Viridian has not been mentioned so far.
Regards, Pat Gill
47 posts & rising
Is it possible to generate your own electricity and sell surplus back to grid. What is the cost of say a small wind turbine and is it difficult to get planning permission. A good friend of mine has "a bit of land" and is right on the Coast. He could earn a tidy living
Don't forget the FF' er (supposed Green) Eamo Ryan who is doing his level best to keep energy prices as high as possible, whilst screwing taxpayers to subsidise useless re-newables, whose pocket is he in?
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