Ukraine war hikes council energy bills by €400,000

Westmeath County Council is having to pay around €400,000 extra each year in energy costs due to the impact of the Ukraine War, Michael Hand, chief finance officer, told members at their quarterly finance meeting, held in Mullingar last week.

Giving a summation of the state of the council’s finances for 2024, Mr Hand revealed that it concluded 2024 with a budget surplus of €18,468, bringing its cumulative revenue reserves to €473,536.

However, he revealed, its energy bills amounted to €2.285m. By contrast, its 2021 energy costs pre-Ukraine War came in at just €1.89m,

Commenting on the fact that the council had finished 2024 with a budget surplus, Mr Hand said that was achieved through a combination of cost-saving measures in payroll and bad debt provisions, along with increased income from housing rents, fire safety certificates, and commercial rates.

He said the council received government supports of €5.87 million in compensation for pay increases.

At the same time, rental income from housing stock amounted to €9 million for 2024 against a budget of €8.5 a surplus of circa €0.5 million.

Paid parking income amounted to €1.8 million for 2024 against a budget of €1.7 giving a surplus of circa €91,000. Fire safety certificate income amounted to €294,000 against a budget of €157,000 – a surplus of circa €136,000.

NPPR income amounted to €66,219 against a budget of €52,200, which was a surplus of €14,000 and rates income amounted to €18 million against a budget of €17.86 a surplus of circa €139,000.

Planning fee income was, however, down to €342,000 from the 2023 figure of €455,000. On the expenditure side, there was expenditure of €1.998 million in housing grants requiring a council contribution of just over €400,000.

There was also expenditure of €8.5 million on the Increased Costs Of Business and the Power Up grants awarded to local businesses, but that was fully recouped by the council from the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment.

Mr Hand disclosed that the council’s capital expenditure amounted to €91.9 million in total – an increase from €77.3 million in the previous year.

“There were 37 projects with expenditure of greater than €300,000,” he continued, revealing that 92 houses were added to the council’s stock in 2024, of which 61 were newly built; and an additional 87 housing units across six locations were under construction as of 31 December 2024.

2025 figures

Summarising the council’s incomings and outgoings for the first three months of this year, Mr Hand said expenditure came to €26,368,854 and there had been expenditure of just under €3,000 more than that. “Although expenditure is generally in line with budget, control of expenditure continues to present challenges and requires constant monitoring and review,” he said.

Storm Éowyn

In response to a query from Cllr Mick Dollard, Mr Hand confirmed that the council had lodged its claim with the Department of the Environment for compensation for the costs the council incurred as a result of clean-ups following Storm Éowyn.

The claim is for €550,000. “We’re optimistic that we’ll get it,” Mr Hand told the meeting.