Gas hike

Council urged to re-consider heating arrangements following gas hike

Anton McNulty

THE management of Castlebar Town Council have been urged to rethink the decision to use  natural gas as the only fuel for heating in the new social and affordable housing units in Saleen, Castlebar.
The housing development, which consists of a total of 59 houses and apartments, is under construction and due to be completed in March, 2008. The only source of heating for the houses will be from the newly-connected Bord Gáis gas pipeline and Independent town councillor, Michael Kilcoyne, has called on the management of the Council to rethink this decision, in light of the 20 per cent gas price hike.
On Friday, the Commission for Energy Regulation gave Bord Gáis permission to increase gas prices by 20 per cent from September 1, and warned that a further increase is expected in January. The regulator said the increases were inevitable due to the sharp rise in gas prices on international markets over the past year.
Last May, Castlebar and Westport became the first towns in Mayo to connect to the Bord Gáis national grid but Cllr Kilcoyne told The Mayo News that he knew of few households that had changed over and said the price hikes ‘don’t encourage people to change over to gas’.
“I understand that the new social and affordable housing units in Saleen will be heated only by natural gas and I call on the management to reconsider this decision. These are social and affordable housing [units] and the people who will live in them will not be able to afford the cost of the gas. The cost of our gas is the dearest in Europe and it will have a major impact on consumers” he said.
Castlebar Town Clerk, Ms Marie Crowley, confirmed to The Mayo News that the housing units in Saleen would be heated by gas from the national grid. She said when they were planning the houses, they considered putting in oil heating but because the gas was being connected to Castlebar, the management decided to put in only gas.