The Electricity Supply Board is required by law to generate a profit. So nobody should be surprised by the semi-state company's decision to close down a loss-making operation.
It did so where out-of-date and inefficient power generating stations were concerned. And now it proposes to close 27 of its 81 shops and retail sales outlets throughout the State. The reasons given: the shops have been losing money for years and the revenues generated have been falling rapidly.
The Fine Gael TD for Donegal South West, Mr Dinny McGinley, has represented the decision as yet another blow by a semi-state company to the fabric of life in rural Ireland. It was a cheap shot at an easy target. It suggested the ESB was some kind of social service, rather than a company with a mandate to make profits and to compete with new entrants in the electricity marketplace.
This year, for the very first time, the Coalition Government has required the ESB to pay it a dividend amounting to about €40 million, or 25 per cent of its profits. Next year, the dividend will rise to 27 per cent of profits and to 33 per cent in 2005. The Government clearly regards it as a commercial entity and a valuable source of revenue.
The closure announcement will not have surprised the trade unions concerned, which have been in negotiations on the matter for about two years. During that time, the ESB has put in place a number of different payment methods for electricity bills - including an arrangement with the Post Office - so that members of the public will not be discommoded.
Staff members with permanent jobs will be given the options of redeployment to another area of the company or of accepting a voluntary redundancy package. Arrangements are being made for contract and temporary workers.
Even after these closures, the ESB will have the largest number of electrical retail outlets in the State. But the level of business done in many of the smaller shops will make them vulnerable to future rationalisation. The network was established about 50 years ago, in quite different circumstances, to promote the use of electrical goods and to act as bill-payment points for customers. Those specific services are now being provided by other companies and agencies and the commercial pressures involved are unlikely to diminish.
There has been considerable speculation in recent years that the Coalition Government may privatise the ESB once a sufficient level of competition has developed within the sector. The closure of these shops would fit in with that programme.