The ESB has announced a profit of €847 million for 2022. And the main reason is rising prices. It is just one of the many companies that are profiteering from the price hikes.
Yet the ESB is a publicly owned company. The problem is that it has been given a for-profit mandate.
It has been told by successive right-wing governments that it must act like any other capitalist company and declare a profit.
This needs to stop. The ESB should be returned to a NOT-for-profit mandate and the government should impose a price cap on its energy.
We should end the absurd situation where it has been broken up to create a market for energy companies to profit.
Let’s have one publicly run energy company – and cut the prices.
