Vol. 433 No. 3
32 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if it is Government policy to permit the ESB, as a monopoly supplier, to demand capital contributions from those who want to avail of electricity supply in their homes; the basis for such a policy; and his views on whether it gives rise to injustice and discrimination in many cases.
ESB normally charges customers 50 per cent of the capital cost of connections to the network and recovers the balance of the infrastructure costs through the price of electricity.
In my view this is a perfectly reasonable arrangement bearing in mind the differing costs which arise depending on the type of supply and the distance of the customer's premises from the existing network. I am not aware of any cases of injustice or discrimination.
