Electricity price hike is another cost Ireland doesn't need

A constant mantra from both the business and political sectors since this country fell into recession, is that it's too expensive to do business here: that our cost base is too high. Employers cited the wage costs - much higher here than in most other EU countries - and our energy costs as two of the items which made it difficult for Irish businesses to compete. It was also argued that the costs of labour and energy here were inhibiting efforts to attract foreign industry to locate in this country. There's no denying that in the past eighteen months progress has been made on the labour cost question: virtually every worker in the state, whether public or private sector, has seen their pay cut; and indeed, figures would probably show that productivity has risen, as in many firms, staff numbers have been cut and the remaining employees are working harder to counter the cut in manpower. But despite the falling labour costs, there are still jobs going weekly: over 8,000 people were added to the live register in the last month alone. No-one is suggesting that further cuts in our costs would solve Ireland's horrendous economic crisis - but it seems incredible that while workers have been taking the hit, the Government is now about to take a step that will push costs up even further, by imposing a 5 per cent rise in electricity prices. While it's not, strictly speaking, a price rise, but a public service obligation levy, intended to help fund the cost of developing renewable energy sources, the fact is that to businesses struggling to survive in a climate where trade is down, finance unavailable, and there's little light at the end of the tunnel, it is a price hike by just another name. Businesses are operating on very tight budgets: after you've cut staff numbers, and cut costs back as much as you can, what do you do next? Stop paying tax to the Government? Cut staff numbers further? Throw in the towel? However, it's not just businesses that are to be affected: this is an across the board swipe at the incomes of individuals as well. Employed, unemployed, on the old age pension, on disability benefits? It makes no difference: at a time when people are finding it harder to make their incomes stretch to meet their outgoings, there now comes a new assault on the family budget - just months before what is expected to be another tough budget. This week, a community worker in Westmeath said that during the bitter cold of last winter, there were senior citizens in this county who went to bed nightly at 6 p.m. because they could not afford the cost of heating their homes. Just recently, there have been hints that the old age pension may be cut in the forthcoming budget. How those people will be able to keep warm if their income is cut, and heating costs are up, is beyond imagining: something will have to take the hit, and the worry is that when they've cut back as much as they can on heat and electricity, will it be their food bill they target next?