There is a threat of power cuts from December 16th after the ESB group of unions decided to serve strike action on the company in a continuing row over a €1.6 billion pension fund deficit.

Unions met in Dublin this morning to discuss the move after workers voted this week in favour of strike action.

They decided to serve strike notice by Friday November 29th, with that notice expering at 8am on Monday December 16th. Each union must serve separate strike notice.

The company, its unions, pension trustees and the Government will meet next week to defuse the row over the €1.7 billion hole in its workers’ retirement fund.

Workers at the State-owned energy company voted this week in favour of striking as unions and management remained at odds over the scheme’s solvency.

Arthur Hall, acting general secretary of the TEEU union, said the unions had written to the ESB chief executive seeking a meeting with him and his senior management team next Thursday November 28th.

“Obviously we are all hoping industrial action can be avoided - no one wants industrial action in this day and age. But there’s a lot of time for people to be smart about this, Mr Hall said.

It emerged yesterday that the ESB, its group of unions, pension trustees, and representatives of four Government departments – Communications, Finance, Public Expenditure and Social Protection – will meet on Tuesday to discuss the problem.

Secretary general of the group of unions Brendan Ogle dismissed claims that taxpayers’ money would be used to shore up the pension plan.

“As far as we are concerned, the liability for the scheme lies fairly and squarely with the ESB,” he said.

Mr Ogle added that papers that had emerged in a High Court case taken against the company by four staff supported this view.

The unions say the ESB’s pension fund would have a €1.7 billion shortfall if it were wound up, leaving staff with 4 per cent of their benefits, but the company says this is not the case.

The four workers who have taken the court case are, amongst other things, seeking to halt payment of dividends to the Government until the company has tackled the pension shortfall.

The unions’ claim about the scheme’s solvency is based on the minimum funding standard, which calculates a defined benefit pension fund’s assets and liabilities if it were wound up.

They argue the ESB unilaterally decided to change the scheme from defined benefit to defined contribution in 2011, after unions and management agreed terms to plug a €2 billion deficit that emerged in 2010. This lets the company off the hook for future liabilities.

The ESB says that the minimum funding standard should not apply as the pension scheme is based on a specific piece of legislation passed in the 1940s. It also points out that it has already won approval from the regulator, the Pensions Board, for a plan that will plug the gap by 2018.