ESB unions have warned that widespread industrial action, including power cuts, may be on the cards following the failure of two months of talks with management and the Government.

The eight unions at the company have started internal consultations and following these a ballot looks likely for April 6th.

Two months of bi-lateral meetings involving the unions, ESB management and the Department of Communications and Natural Resources have "yielded no tangible results", said the group of unions yesterday.

The group of unions had considered holding ballot on industrial action at a meeting on December 18th but intervention from the Minister for Communications, Mr Ahern, prevented this going ahead.

The Minister instead suggested a series of bilateral talks, the first between the group of unions and his Department, the second between unions and ESB management.

The unions said during these talks the company tried to discuss widespread structural change and, while unions wanted to "engage fruitfully on the future of the ESB", it had to be a true partnership process.

The unions are looking for an 18.5 per cent pay increase and a 20 per cent stake in the company. The unions claim this can be self-financing if the company engages in meaningful dialogue. The current three-year partnership agreement, the Programme of Action for Competitiveness and Transparency (PACT), will shortly lapse.

The eight unions assembled yesterday in Dublin and the head of the group, Mr Paddy Reilly, said two months of discussions with Government and ESB management had "yielded no tangible results".

He said the unions at the company had set a benchmark in the semi-state sector over recent years by agreeing complex self- financing deals, which saw ESB's workforce reduced from 12,000 to 7,500 without virtually any industrial action.

He said he believed this could be achieved again, but it would be challenging in the current environment.

The Minister recently ruled out the privatisation of the ESB, particularly of the distribution and transmission system. He also seemed to rule out the privatisation of power generation, but some elements of the company are believed to favour this.

The unions favour the company remaining in public control, but some union members want to ensure that if the company or some part of it is sold, staff will benefit from the change.

The ESB has to introduce a range of changes to its operations because of the opening up of the electricity market.

The local distribution system, ESB Networks, will have to be entirely separate from ESB Supply, which supplies power to businesses and homes.

There is also the continuing dispute over setting up the national grid, ESB National Grid, as a standalone company known as Eirgrid.

There are also some discussions about giving greater autonomy to individual stations.

Meanwhile, the managing director of ESB National Grid, Mr Kieran O'Brien, has sent a letter to the energy regulator, Mr Tom Reeves, explaining that much progress has been made in relation to resolving issues surrounding wind power.

Mr O'Brien, while stopping short of recommending the ending of the moratorium on new wind connections to the grid, said there were some hopeful signs.

An industry group, the Wind Energy Steering Group, will meet today to discuss the moratorium which was introduced a few months ago after concern was expressed about the amount of wind going on to the system.