Vol. 420 No. 6
66 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Energy if he will confirm reports that peat costs for electricity production were comparable in 1991 with coal if debt servicing was excluded; and if this would change his view of the future of Bord na Móna.
In 1991, the fuel cost per unit sent out from the milled peat-fired electricity generating stations ranged from 2.98p to 4.54p per unit, with an average fuel cost of 3.6p per unit. The comparable figure for the coal-fired plant at Moneypoint is 1.15p per unit.
If the total debt servicing charges incurred by Bord na Móna in 1991 were to be excluded, this could have reduced the average fuel cost per unit in the milled peat-fired generating stations to 2.23p. This would still represent almost double the fuel costs of the Moneypoint plant.
