{"id":559512,"date":"2026-07-20T19:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/559512\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:46:12","slug":"td-slams-electric-ireland-aggressive-warning-to-pensioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/559512\/","title":{"rendered":"TD slams Electric Ireland: “aggressive” warning to pensioner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath has slammed Electric Ireland after a pensioner in his 80s, \u201crecently widowed and in poor health\u201d, received what the Independent TD says is \u201can aggressive and intimidating arrears letter warning of possible cancellation of his payment plan and implied disconnection, despite owing only \u20ac16, an amount that has since been fully cleared\u201d.<\/p>\n

Deputy McGrath told Gript today that it was \u201cbeyond disgraceful that an elderly man, a vulnerable person was treated like this,\u201d adding that \u201cit is indicative of a culture that has been allowed to take root in the country which is indifferent to the burdens and distresses being placed on ordinary people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has the country come to when we have the government parading around telling everyone we\u2019ve never had it so good, while a man in his 80s is being treated aggressively by a state-owned utility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Electric Ireland is the retail supply and consumer brand of the Electricity Supply Board. Electric Ireland increased residential electricity prices by 8% and gas prices by 7.7%, effective July 1, 2026 \u2013 adding approximately \u20ac138 to the average annual electricity bill and \u20ac117 to the average gas bill<\/p>\n

The Independent TD told Tipperary Live<\/a> that the pensioner, who is a constituent, lost his wife last year. Since that time, the elderly man has struggling under the weight of funeral costs and additional unexpected cost of living expenses, the TD said. His electricity payments fell into approximately \u20ac800 in arrears.<\/p>\n

However, the man\u2019s daughter, who is also his full\u2011time carer, had contacted providers, Electric Ireland, and explained the situation. She and the company had agreed a \u20ac75 per week payment plan to clear the arrears. However, the pensioner, anxious to clear the debt was paying \u20ac80 per week to clear the amount owed.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Deputy McGrath said, Electric Ireland issued a letter on July 9 that the Independent TD described as \u201cdeeply distressing, wholly disproportionate, and utterly devoid of compassion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tone of the letter that I have personally seen was aggressive, intimidating and completely unacceptable for a state\u2011owned utility dealing with a vulnerable elderly customer,\u201d he said \u2013 adding that the warning letter caused significant fear and upset to the man, who believed he might lose his gas supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy office is seeing cases like this on a far too frequent basis. This is not how we treat vulnerable pensioners, or anyone else for that matter. This man has done everything asked of him. He has engaged fully, paid more than the agreed amount, and cleared the minor arrears immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet Electric Ireland sent him a letter that reads like a threat. It is disgraceful,\u201d he told Tipperary Live.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when ESB is reporting enormous profits, their retail arm is issuing fear\u2011inducing letters to elderly widowers over a paltry \u20ac16. It is beyond comprehension,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deputy McGrath said he will be raising the matter directly with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Alan Dillon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese huge companies must stick to the protections designed to safeguard vulnerable customers,\u201d he told Gript. \u201cThey are making millions in profit every year while Irish people are struggling and paying through the nose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Electric Ireland\u2019s parent company, the ESB Group, reported an after-tax profit of \u20ac636 million for the 2025 financial year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath has slammed Electric Ireland after a pensioner in his 80s, \u201crecently widowed and in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12613,61,60,88399,43,15231,181771],"class_list":["post-559512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-electric-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mattie-mcgrath","tag-news","tag-pensioner","tag-warning-letter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559512","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=559512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}