The Tánaiste has called suggestions by the ESB that customers would pay for damage caused by Storm Éowyn “extraordinarily insensitive”.
ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes said that damage done by the unprecedented storm to the electricity network would be “significant” and run into the tens of millions.
“It’s likely that those charges which are allowed there will find their way back into the overall cost of our distribution system network,” he told RTÉ on Tuesday.
“There is a cost associated with this that will ultimately be borne across the electricity network as a whole.”
Mr Hayes also said that the Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy would still be charged to customers who were without power, as it funds investment in the network.
Simon Harris said the comments were “extraordinarily insensitive” and a “slightly more sensitive approach” was needed.
He added: “We can have discussions about how best to invest – including the size of the ESB’s surplus, by the way, and the dividends and the resources available to the ESB – but when my constituents or certainly citizens in the country of which I’m Tanaiste haven’t had the lights on for two weeks, I’d appreciate a slightly more sensitive approach in relation to these matters.
“There are very big issues here that need to be addressed.
“We can’t continue to have a situation where we’re investing millions and millions of euro through the ESB and repairing lines when the trees are falling down on top of them.
“We need to have a plan in terms of how we protect the ESB’s infrastructure.
“The cost of electricity is something that stresses people in this country.
“It worries people, and I don’t want any person to be worried about the cost of heating the home, cost of turning on the lights.
“And I also don’t want people, when they can’t turn on the lights, be hearing the response from the state agency in relation to the lights, saying we’re going to put up your bills.”
Asked about whether customers would not pay for the storm costs, he said: “What I can say to people is, when it becomes apparent what the full costs of that repair is, Government will have to engage with all of the various utilities and all of the various government departments, and that work will take place.”
There are 7,000 people still left without power, according to the ESB, down from a height of more than 700,000 customers.
There were also outages at water treatment plants which cut off water supplies to some people.
Mr Harris said that while almost everyone had their power restored now, “it does raise much more fundamental questions about preparedness for very severe weather events”.
He said there was a need for a standard operating procedure to be put in place for severe weather events, such as what back-up plan there is when communications systems fail.
Mr Harris said: “My instinct is that we’re not as prepared as we needed to be, quite frankly, but I do believe everything that can be done is being done to get power restored.”
He said that €800,000 was paid out to help people recover, hotel accommodation was provided, and community hubs were set up across the country.
“But, I’ve got to be honest with people, in a country as geographically as small as Ireland, it is a cause of huge frustration for me, and I can only imagine frustration for people on the ground, that the response seems to vary so much in counties,” he said.
