LARGE commercial electricity users may face price rises of up to 35% in October as a result of the 10% price reduction recently announced by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), according to a letter sent to the commission by employers' organisation Ibec.

"In the current economic climate, this is an unprecedented threat to competitiveness and conserving jobs, which simply cannot be ignored," said Barry Leonard, chairman of IBEC's large energy user working group.

The group has requested an immediate meeting with the CER and the Department of Energy to discuss the issue.

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan promised earlier this year to cut electricity prices by 10% before the CER had even started to review prices. The resulting review found the ESB would end up selling power at a loss if the minister's promise was fulfilled using normal means, forcing it to temporarily reduce fixed network charges instead. But this has left network operator ESB Networks running at a loss, which it has been told it can recover through higher network charges next year.

IBEC fears that this loss recovery exercise coupled with the unwinding of €402m in temporary ESB rebates introduced in January will lead to a 35% price increase for large commercial users.