Vol. 440 No. 8
19 Mr. L. Burke asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications the amount of capital expenditure that will be required by the ESB in the next five years; the purpose of this finance; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The ESB proposes to spend a sum of £1,300 million on its capital expenditure programme over the next five years. The purpose of this finance is to maintain and upgrade the electricity system to cater for forecasted demand for electricity through a combination of investment in new generating capacity, and improving and upgrading the electricity transmission and distribution networks. The appropriateness of this expenditure programme will be assessed in the context of the recently announced ESB cost and competitiveness review.
