Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important to outline some facts. The Minister of State paints a very benevolent picture of utility companies which, unfortunately, is not recognisable in reality. In March this year the ESB announced that its profit before taxation had risen to €327.6 million in 2012, up from €78.8 million in the previous year. The figures published by the Commission for Energy Regulation, about which the Minister of State also spoke, showed that in that year, when it made a massive profit, this benevolent company, as the Minister of State describes it, had cut off the electricity supply to 12,854 households in the first three quarters of 2012. It disconnected almost 17,800 customers during 2011. The gas supply of 2,479 domestic customers was cut off between July and September 2012. In the past two years, prior to last March, gas and electricity prices rose by an average of 30%. What the Minister of State says about the ESB and other utility companies lending a friendly ear and listening carefully to people’s cases is not borne out on the ground.