About this website
The ESB website contains several features to help improve the quality of your visit. The most important of these are:
- Features for visitors with web access disabilities
- Features for visitors with reading difficulties
- Features for viewing downloadable documents, movies and other content
If you have questions specific to ESB's obligations under the Disability Act 2005, please contact the ESB Access Officer. If you wish to provide any other type of feedback, please contact us.
Visitors with web access disabilities
The ESB public website adheres to the guidelines of the international Web Accessibility standard WCAG 1.0 Level-AA.
The following content is excluded from Level-AA compliance :
If, when using this website, you find other content that you suspect does not conform to the WCAG 1.0 Level-AA guidelines, please contact us.
Visitors with reading difficulties
Listen to content on this site as it is read 'out loud' by your computer
This website is speech-enabled. This means that you can listen to the words on the site as they are read 'out loud' by your computer. This is useful for people who have reading difficulties, mild vision disabilities or for whom English is a second language.
This service is free to everyone.
To use it you must:
- Download a small software program called BrowseAloud (BrowseAloud is made by a highly reputable company that has been reviewed by ESB)
- Point at the website text you want to hear with your mouse
- BrowseAloud will then read the text 'out loud'
If you can't hear any sound:
- make sure your computer has sound capability and that speakers or headphones are plugged in
- ensure the volume is turned on
If you wish to learn about BrowseAloud or have queries about its operation, visit the BrowseAloud website.
Changing text size on this website
If you find the text size on this website is too small to read comfortably, you can change its size. The way you do this depends on the browser (i.e. the software program) you use to view the web.
Some computers also let you change text size simply by holding down the 'control' or 'alt' keys and using the wheel in the middle of your mouse to make the text larger and smaller.
Changing text size using Microsoft Internet Explorer OR Firefox (Mozilla) on a Personal Computer (PC):
- Go to the menu at the top of the browser window and select View
- From the list of options, select Text Size
- From the side menu that opens up, select the size you wish to view the website in
Firefox also allows you to change the text size using keyboard shortcuts:
- Press Ctrl and + to increase the size
- Press Ctrl and - to decrease the size
- Press Ctrl and 0 to go back to the default size
Shortcuts are also used to change text size on an Apple Mac (all browsers):
- Press Cmd and + to increase the size
- Press Cmd and - to decrease the size
- Press Cmd and 0 to go back to the default size
Viewing movies, documents and other content
While the majority of content on this website is available as plain text, some has been published in different formats. This is because certain information can be better demonstrated in other ways, such as video.
Content like this often requires the addition of a small piece of software (called a 'plugin') to your computer.
Below are the plugins used by this website. They are made by very reputable manufacturers, so there are few risks to your computer. In fact, some of them may already be installed on your system.
To view reproductions of printed documents or brochures:
To view animated, interactive images similar to cartoons:
To view video and listen to audio content: