ESB chief executive Padraig McManus said yesterday that he was confident that the group can deliver a new power station and close several old ones, despite union opposition.
The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) has given the ESB the go-ahead to build a €400 million power plant in Cork, but is demanding that, in return, it close four older ones employing 300 people and make the sites available to competitors.
The unions which represent its workers are opposed to the closures although they support the plan to build the Cork facility.
Mr McManus said yesterday that he was confident that the ESB would deal with this impasse.
"We have always had to do difficult things and we have been able to do them by working with our unions, and this will not be the same.
"That is not to underplay the difficulties involved in taking this on. We have reduced staff numbers to 6,700 (from 9,800 in 2002) and have done all that through voluntary redundancy," he said.
The union group, led by Davey Naughton of the Technical, Electrical and Engineering Union (TEEU), has already told ESB management that it is opposed to the closures. However, Mr McManus said yesterday that these talks had only "just opened".
The unions argue that the closures are part of the Government plan to break up the State company, a move that they are also opposed to.
Yesterday, the company announced that profits after tax fell 7 per cent to €223 million in 2006 from €241 million the previous year. The sale of the company's network of shops and retail business boosted the 2005 figures.
Group debt was up 5 per cent at €2.3 billion. Most of its borrowings stem from the ESB's ongoing spending on developing its networks.
Last year, this came to €831 million, down slightly from €943 million in 2005. Group finance director Bernard Byrne said he expected the group to continue investing at this rate over the next few years.
Its total workforce stood at 7,800, of which 1,100 are in subsidiary, ESB International.
