Let August be a month of raging storms

Economics: Edna O'Brien was dead right about one thing: August is a wicked month, writes Marc Coleman.

It's about a year since most of us were on holiday. Humid, sleepless nights cause irritation and restlessness. Small fleas bite us at night. The air is filled with electrical charge, built up over weeks of sultry weather. It's a month of tempers fraying, limits reached and storms breaking out.

Last week's interest rate increase is the fourth quarter-point rise since last December. As far as future predicted rate increases are concerned, we are only half way there. At least another four such rises will come before next summer. But this one is special. It is a catalyst - potentially a stormbringer.

For one of our younger, more exposed borrowers each quarter per cent rise adds approximately a further €35 for every €250,000 in outstanding mortgage debt. House prices being what they are these days, a €50 increase in mortgage servicing costs per quarter point hike is a more realistic expectation.

Between last December and next September, when the latest rise will be passed on to borrowers, most households will have at least €200 more taken out of their monthly budget.

Cushioned by substantial equity or good incomes, the majority of us can shrug this off. SSIA funds will also cushion the blow, as will rising nominal incomes. But many others are now entering a world of financial pain. Those more recently burdened by the high cost of a house or apartment - between 50,000 and 100,000 people, according to some accounts - will in coming months face difficult choices about the ways they spend their money.

Eating and drinking out, going on holidays, shopping for clothes or cosmetics and buying new cars are just a range of purchasing decisions that, for many, are about to become that bit more difficult.

There is yet more to come. The ESB has sought a 20 per cent increase in electricity charges. Were electricity bills here not already 43 per cent higher than those paid by consumers in the UK, the request might be forgiven. After all, consumers can understand that oil prices are rising.

But they may be less forgiving about the relative inefficiency of its electricity generation, the State-supported monopoly it represents and the contrast between it and their own exposure to the real world.

Bord Gáis is also seeking a significant price increase of 34 per cent. As the Economic and Social Research Institute's latest quarterly commentary on the economy suggests, inflation will rise above 4 per cent over the coming few months, due to energy price rises and higher mortgage repayment costs.

On top of this unwelcome news comes the realisation for many consumers that utility costs in the Republic are more expensive than anywhere else. Our bills for using mobile phones are some 62 per cent higher than those in Australia despite the fact that mobile phone usage patterns in both countries are almost identical.

And while some of the differential between Irish electricity prices and those of other countries is justified by the historical evolution of our power systems, this doesn't stretch to justifying a 43 per cent difference.

For years we've had little economic bites taken out of us by a whole zoo of parasites. Each one hopes the bite they take will go unnoticed. Each one on its own does no damage. But put together, they form a deadly army of destruction, sucking pints of blood down to the marrow of our bones.

And what of the powers that be, the ones who can stop this happening? It's not as if they're powerless. And it's not as if they're doing anything. Like reform in our economy generally, reform of the ESB remains a political taboo.

Yes, the Groceries Order was abolished. Thanks for that. But what about the licensing trade? Or the pharmaceutical retail sector - where the Government could achieve a quick win by abolishing a ban on foreign-qualified managers of chemist shops - which remains unreformed in spite of a Government promise last year?

What about the cost of using a mobile phone? What about lack of broadband access, lamentable transport and the worsening health services? What about the Revenue Commissioner's self-assessment tax forms that take a month to fill out? What about post offices that slam the door in your face at lunchtime just when you most need it to be open?

Oh yes, August is a wicked month. There is only one way to respond. Be wicked back.

Complain about public transport services when they arrive or leave late. Get outraged over long queues at Dublin airport. Get irate over high prices. Refuse to tolerate waffle or inaction from political leaders.

Put the fear of God into those who patronise you by offering you bad service at worse prices. Contact the Ombudsman. Ring your local Government TD or camp outside his constituency office.

Insist on being treated like what you are: the customer king or queen, the sovereign voter who is master of this nation.

Gather up your rage and let it out in a single torrent. Let August be a month of raging storms.

Then, and only then, things might finally start changing for the better in this country.

But for goodness sake - and whatever you do - stop sitting back and being such a chump.