The ESB should develop "early warning" systems to detect any Government opposition to investments it planned, its chairman said yesterday.

Confirming the State company would seek an increase in the price of electricity, Mr Tadhg O'Donoghue said the Government's refusal to sanction its bid for a cluster of eight power firms in Poland had left the ESB "very, very disappointed".

"The shareholder took the view that it was an exceptionally good investment, but the sheer scale of it was a bit frightening."

The proposed investment of up to #1.8 billion (£1.4 billion) was blocked last month, within hours of the deadline for a binding bid. The size of the deal was potentially as large as the ESB itself, whose net asset value at the end of 2000 was #1.89 billion.

Mr O'Donoghue said the ESB must review its internal "process". If the Government had issued any "early warnings" about the project, Mr O'Donoghue said figures in the ESB "weren't quite receiving them".

Mr O'Donoghue's comments at a briefing came as the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, defended the Government's intervention. At a separate meeting, Mr McCreevy said: "The ESB's remit is what is best for Irish consumers and taxpayers. If you take that into account, we could not allow the ESB to go ahead."

Retained profits at the ESB fell last year to £31 million from £216.44 million in 1999.

The company attributed the fall in profits to an exceptional charge of £236 million for a programme to reduce its 8,000 staff by 2,000.

The result was boosted by an exceptional gain of £86 million after the sale to British Telecom of its part-owned telecoms venture, Ocean, but fuel costs increased by almost £100 million.

Mr O'Donoghue said such increases had been absorbed "on the chin" up to now. The company planned to apply to the Commission for Electricity Regulation for a price increase, though he said it would "certainly go through this year" without a rise.

He declined to reveal the increase required by the company, but accepted the purpose of deregulation in the power market was to decrease prices.

Welcoming the acceptance by staff last Friday of the rationalisation plan, Mr O'Donoghue said the decision would enable the company to advance a £2.1 billion investment programme on its network. The company had signed agreements worth £50 million in the past week with outside contracts for that project.

Mr O'Donoghue said the ESB aimed to develop a world-class network through that programme. "At the moment it would be a gross exaggeration to say we're anywhere near that."

On complaints about the network's capacity to cope with additional demand, Mr O'Donoghue said the company could guarantee to secure a supply to new industrial projects within the time required to construct factories.

Mr O'Donoghue said the EU Competition Commissioner, Mr Mario Monti, was "probably quite right" to criticise the structure and pace of deregulation in the market. He also accepted that the ESB had come under "pressure" from Government to embrace competition.

Stating that the possibility of floating the ESB would not be addressed until late 2003 at the earliest, he said the board had decided against that option at a meeting in January. Criticism of "management" at that time by the company's unions was not justified, he said.

The company's annual report revealed that the salary paid to the ESB's chief executive, Mr Ken O'Hara, rose to £188,504 last year from £101,132 in 1999. The rise was granted under the Buckley review of State salaries.