The State will need to take “emergency measures” to provide electricity supplies needed for new homes, ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes has told the Government.
Efforts to end the long-running housing shortage will strain energy and water supply networks, industry figures warn.
Writing to Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Mr Hayes – who runs the country’s biggest electricity company – said “much” has been delivered to boost supplies in areas where they are squeezed, but further challenges lie ahead.
“Planned growth in some areas is already challenging the capacity of the existing electricity network and it is clear that an emergency approach will be required to deliver new, additional capacity faster than ever before,” he said.
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The company says “emergency measures” include speeding up the construction of infrastructure to enable electricity supplies to proposed new homes.
ESB Networks, responsible for the lines that transmit electricity to customers’ premises, is seeking regulators’ approval to spend €13.4 billion up to 2030 to cater for critically needed new homes.
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Mr Hayes wrote to the Minister in July, as it emerged that the ESB subsidiary was seeking backing to spend the cash.
The company must get approval from the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities for this level of spending on its networks.
The Department of Climate, Environment and Energy, along with the ESB and Eirgrid, have set up an “oversight group” to aid the connection of new homes to the system.
Mr Hayes says he believes this group will support any “emergency measures and approaches” needed to do this.
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He welcomes the convening of the oversight body and says the ESB supports its objectives.
An ESB statement confirmed on Wednesday that there was “ongoing engagement between the department, Eirgrid and ESB Networks” on building infrastructure for housing.
The company’s own figures indicate that demand for new electricity connections in the Republic is strongest in areas close to bigger cities and urban areas, including Dublin and Cork.
Along with new homes, electrifying transport, heat, industry and efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are all driving up demand, the company maintains.
Mr Hayes’ letter notes that the challenge “to deliver further capacity” quickly enough to meet demands remains significant.
State-owned ESB supplies electricity and natural gas to more than one million customers, around 40 per cent of the Republic’s market. It also owns power plants and the national electricity grid.
However, fellow State company Eirgrid, which is separate from the ESB, runs the national grid.
