The current tariff regulations in the electricity market are preventing the ESB from passing on cheaper costs in form of lower prices to consumers, the group's chairman said today.
Speaking at the publication of the ESB's annual report, Tadhg O'Donoghue highlighted the prohibition on ESB from selling at below published tariffs as a barrier to competition and greater savings.
Mr O'Donoghue said: "The sooner this restriction is lifted and ESB is allowed to compete on the same terms as independent suppliers the sooner efficiencies and savings can be passed on."
The ESB today posted profits of €223 million for 2006, down slightly on the previous year.
The figures also show staff reduction of nearly 500, bringing the total employed by ESB to 7,800. Over the last five years staff numbers at ESB have reduced by 2,000 or by 20 per cent.
The company said it had begun construction of the Marchwood plant in Southampton and was exploring opportunities in Spain, Poland and Wales.
The company said that its pension fund was again operating within "the acceptable zone for pension funds".
"The agreement reached between ESB, unions and staff to address this issue is a benchmark for the partnership approach, a process which has served ESB and its consumer's well over the past decade and a half, " said ESB chief executive Padraig McManus.
He said that while the opening of the single electricity market due for November this year would be a welcome further step in the creation of "real competition", he warned against the over reliance on imported fossil fuels to meet our insatiable energy needs.