Small business group ISME has claimed that jobs will be lost because of a 5% increase in electricity prices.
A public service obligation levy, which had been postponed, is being imposed on all electricity customers in October to improve the security of energy supply and to develop renewable energy.
Michael Tutty, chairman of the Commission for Energy Regulation, said deferring the levy any longer was not an option. The CER recently set the levy for the year beginning October 1 at €157m.
The CER says the proceeds of the levy are used to recoup the additional costs incurred by the ESB and other electricity suppliers in having to source a proportion of their electricity supplies from renewable energy suppliers and indigenous fuels such as peat.
But ISME chief executive Mark Fielding called on Communications and Energy Minister Eamon Ryan to reverse the decision. He said the electricity hike would only increase the pressure on an already struggling sector.
