The news this week that the Government intends to increase electricity by 5% in October comes as yet another unwelcome cost base hike to business.
The increase, according to the Government, is due to the public service obligation levy, a charge designed to improve the country’s security of energy supply and to develop renewable energy….scant comfort to businesses already buckling under a raft of charges including commercial rates, water and waste charges.
In the real world any extra charges to business at this time will be at best detrimental and at worst catastrophic. Sure, we appreciate that securing supply and developing renewable energy are good things and must happen but the timing of this proposed increase couldn’t be worse. The Commissioner for Energy Regulation says that if the levy is postponed consumers will have to pay more later…
But it’s the here and now that concerns businesses at the moment. It’s keeping afloat and providing jobs. The possibility of lower bills in the longer term doesn’t cut any ice with businesses trying to pay today’s bills.
The increases will also hit the bottom line of our larger businesses and particularly those in the manufacturing sector. For a country whose cost base is perceived already as being high (in fact Ireland has the fourth highest electricity charges in the EU), this will not help in attracting future foreign direct investment to locate here. The IDA have already expressed their concerns regarding the increase which will of course make their job of attracting foreign direct investment significantly more difficult.
On a more positive note, it’s good to be able to offer something for nothing to businesses… a reminder that those SMEs who wish to provide a work placement to a participant on the WebActivate programme this autumn, Galway Chamber as the Galway business link along with Galway provider GTI invites SMEs to apply to take a work placement. Chamber Members will receive a brochure with an application form attached in this week’s mailout and details are also available on www.webactivate.ie Remember participant WebActivators do not need to be accommodated in the place of business. Rather they are empowered to work independently, equipped with a notebook computer and software, 3G broadband and mobile and technical support. Thus equipped they will create a web presence that will enable the host SME to grow its business through the web, using the internet to reach and drive customers to the business.
Congratulations to the Salthill Village Festival which was launched in the Galway Business School at the weekend. The Festival itself will take place this year on the weekend of August 21 and 22 and will host among other events, a giant tea dance, a vintage car rally, DJ’s in the marquee, a ghost run, fire juggling, ice sculpting, giant jenga, poetry, literature, art, windsurfing, diving, salsa, capoeira and lots more. This is a great family festival and as the organisers say: ‘It’s Free by the Sea’. We wish all our members in Salthill every success with this initiative. www.salthillvillage.com
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