{"id":403084,"date":"2026-04-17T08:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/403084\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T08:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:25:11","slug":"consumers-face-higher-electricity-bills-and-what-next-for-ptsb-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/403084\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumers face higher electricity bills and what next for PTSB \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It\u2019s been one of the biggest concerns since the start of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran: what happens to energy prices. With widespread damage already inflicted on the region and the Strait of Hormuz still effectively closed, Barry O\u2019Halloran looks at the ramifications for consumers and why higher home electricity prices appear <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/households-face-electricity-bill-increases-in-weeks-industry-warns\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/households-face-electricity-bill-increases-in-weeks-industry-warns\/\">almost inevitable<\/a> at this stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Austrian bank Bawag has signalled it plans to carry out a deal to free up some of the expensive capital PTSB must hold on its balance sheet against loans, essentially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/bawag-mulls-plan-to-free-up-capital-in-ptsb-to-ease-cost-of-162bn-deal\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/bawag-mulls-plan-to-free-up-capital-in-ptsb-to-ease-cost-of-162bn-deal\/\">lowering the net cost<\/a> of its \u20ac1.62 billion deal to buy the Irish lender. Joe Brennan has the story. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Meanwhile in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/how-ptsb-came-back-from-a-near-death-experience-to-challenge-aib-and-bank-of-ireland\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/how-ptsb-came-back-from-a-near-death-experience-to-challenge-aib-and-bank-of-ireland\/\">Agenda<\/a>, Joe looks at what is in store for the bank\u2019s staff and customers, and what the deal means for the wider banking landscape in Ireland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A senior manager with Twitter awarded \u20ac550,131 by the Workplace Relations Commission after he had been deemed by the company to have resigned following Elon Musk\u2019s takeover has had the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/twitters-payout-to-unfairly-dismissed-manager-is-slashed\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/twitters-payout-to-unfairly-dismissed-manager-is-slashed\/\">award reduced<\/a> to \u20ac201,458 by the Labour Court. Emmet Malone has the details. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/primark-chief-eoin-tonge-we-are-the-best-in-the-world-at-pyjamas-we-just-dominate-that-category\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/17\/primark-chief-eoin-tonge-we-are-the-best-in-the-world-at-pyjamas-we-just-dominate-that-category\/\">interview of the week<\/a>, Ciar\u00e1n Hancock meets Eoin Tonge \u2013 the new head of Primark \u2013 on his plans for the retailer known as Penneys in Ireland. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">World markets appear to have almost shrugged off the effects of the Iran war, with the S&amp;P 500 hitting a new intraday high on Thursday. But how long can this optimism last? In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/economy\/2026\/04\/17\/the-mix-of-chaotic-politics-and-a-resilient-economy-cannot-last\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/economy\/2026\/04\/17\/the-mix-of-chaotic-politics-and-a-resilient-economy-cannot-last\/\">his column<\/a>, Martin Wolf questions whether this can last indefinitely. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Bank of Ireland plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/16\/bank-of-ireland-plans-to-delist-in-uk-and-offer-to-buy-out-small-legacy-shareholders\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/16\/bank-of-ireland-plans-to-delist-in-uk-and-offer-to-buy-out-small-legacy-shareholders\/\">delist<\/a> from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and offer to buy out thousands of legacy shareholders with tiny holdings after their stakes were severely diluted by its crisis-era bailouts. Joe has the story. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A German real estate giant has received <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/16\/planners-give-green-light-to-200m-overhaul-expansion-of-corks-mahon-point\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/16\/planners-give-green-light-to-200m-overhaul-expansion-of-corks-mahon-point\/\">planning permission<\/a> to proceed with its \u20ac200 million plan to redevelop and expand Mahon Point shopping centre in Cork City. As Ian reports, the development, which comprises 77,767 sq m of ground floor space, will add some 13,000 sq m of retail space to the existing footprint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ian also reports that Ires Reit, the State\u2019s largest private landlord, has estimated that the rents it charges on its portfolio of apartments are about a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/16\/states-largest-private-landlord-estimates-its-rents-are-20-below-market-value\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/04\/16\/states-largest-private-landlord-estimates-its-rents-are-20-below-market-value\/\">fifth below market value<\/a>, but that recent reforms of the rules governing tenancies will allow it to \u201cunlock significant\u201d value. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">If you\u2019d like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to <a href=\"https:\/\/theirishtimes.lt.emlnk1.com\/Prod\/link-tracker?redirectUrl=aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cuaXJpc2h0aW1lcy5jb20lMkZuZXdzbGV0dGVycyUzRnV0bV9zb3VyY2UlM0ROZXdzbGV0dGVyJTI2dXRtX21lZGl1bSUzRGVtYWlsJTI2dXRtX2NvbnRlbnQlM0RSU1MlMjUzQUlURU0lMjUzQVRJVExFJTI2dXRtX2NhbXBhaWduJTNEYnVzaW5lc3NfdG9kYXlfZGlnZXN0&amp;sig=4kSj6MVtJhDySXD8zno7jMoXwZGc1dpLM3xhR9Fc9b5k&amp;iat=1673852841&amp;a=%7C%7C89275494%7C%7C&amp;account=theirishtimes%2Eactivehosted%2Ecom&amp;email=Dc0R66saiYNu2sbROXCOD2QOP8ZXmRzMvz3Yw%2BcA7gI%3D&amp;s=0d5371d23ecde798f8f0f88cc635413b&amp;i=21237A21683A12A963031\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">On the Money<\/a>, the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been one of the biggest concerns since the start of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,8319,113,61,60],"class_list":["post-403084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-business-today","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}