The Government is playing Russian roulette with the State's energy market and, together with the energy regulator, is responsible for the escalation in electricity prices, a union representing ESB workers has said.

Brendan Ogle of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU) said that ESB workers were being used as the "fall guy" for spiralling electricity costs.

A report published yesterday by the union said that the price of electricity in the State rose by 67 per cent between 2001 and 2005, even though ESB's operating costs increased by only 37 per cent. However, labour costs accounted for just 16 per cent of ESB's total costs in 2005, it said.

According to Mr Ogle, the main cause of high prices has been the Government's policy, executed by the energy regulator, of artificially inflating prices to entice private companies to enter the market.

"New companies are being enticed into the market, not through State grants or tax breaks, they are being enticed by higher electricity prices for consumers," the report said.

"The Government is refusing to subsidise its own policy of liberalisation."

The White Paper on Energy unveiled by the Taoiseach this week also came in for severe criticism. Mr Ogle described the proposed transfer of ownership of the electricity transmission grid away from ESB as "disembowelling the jewel in the crown of the semi-state sector".

Mr Ogle said that if implemented, the proposals outlined in would damage ESB and push up prices further. It failed to set out a costed roadmap on how to reach renewable energy targets, he said. The Government should "red circle" dividends which it extracted from ESB's profits to fund research and development into renewable energy sources.