The ESB needs up to five years before undergoing a possible flotation, its chairman, Mr Tadhg O'Donoghue, has said. He said the power company would not realise "true value" for the State if sold on the stock exchange in the short term.
The immediate priority was to secure a voluntary severance package with unions to reduce staff to 6,500 from 8,500 and open its network to outside contractors. "Serious give and take" was required from management and unions, he said.
The use of contractors would be crucial to a major upgrade of the national network, which will cost £2 million (€2.5 million) per working day.
"We've been entrusted with this as part of the National Development Plan. I've been very clear with my board that we've been entrusted with that and we'd better get on with it."
The ESB was "utterly committed" to competition and would not put barriers in the way of competitors, Mr O'Donoghue added. But he admitted: "It's true to say that certainly we had to be dragged to competition in the sense that we didn't gallop into it. There's no point in saying otherwise."
On fears that rising demand for power might prompt blackouts next winter, he said the system had 15 per cent more capacity than was required during peak demand last winter.
"What's safe? We have taken the view that 15 per cent is tight. We would certainly have preferred more, but it's not disastrous."
Any attempt to force the ESB to divest of a generation station it plans with Statoil in Dublin would be resisted, Mr O'Donoghue said. He added, however, that older plants may be stood down by the company as competition progressed.
The ESB wanted to retain 60 per cent of its business when the market was fully liberalised after 2005, the chairman said.
Meanwhile, owners of new power stations will be provided with a "committed date" for a firm connection to the national grid under a draft direction issued yesterday by the electricity regulator, Mr Tom Reeves.
The ESB and the national grid operator, EirGrid, will be required to carry risk associated with delays in the upgrading necessary to accommodate new power stations.
