Airtricity to enter North's domestic supplymarket

ENERGY COMPANY Airtricity plans to begin selling electricity to householders in Northern Ireland, bringing competition to the region’s domestic market for the first time.

The move follows last week’s announcement that it plans to begin selling natural gas to households in the Republic, where it is already a player in the domestic electricity market.

Airtricity said yesterday that it will offer 14 per cent discounts to the rates charged by Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), the only existing operator in the area’s household market, whose charges are set by an independent regulator.

The company estimated that this would save consumers around €110 (£95 sterling) a year on a “typical household electricity bill”.

The calculation is based on customers with electricity bills of £676 a year.

The company will also invest in customer services, sales and billing, creating 75 new jobs in the region.

Airtricity is already supplying around 10,000 business customers in the North, which is home to six of its Irish wind farms.

Its licence to supply electricity there covers it to offer power to householders.

The region’s domestic market has been open to independent players since 2007, but Airtricity is the first such player to announce it will move in there.

Currently, the Northern Irish system will allow 6,000 customers to switch suppliers every month. However, the regulator is working with suppliers to develop an unlimited switching system.

Airtricity is owned by London-listed British utility, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE). The company supplies both electricity and gas to households and businesses in the Republic, where its competitors include the ESB, Bord Gáis and Energia, part of the Viridian group, which also owns NIE.

It owns a number of wind farms around Ireland, with total capacity to generate up to 420 megawatts of power. It has more than 200,000 customers and intends to increase this this to around half a million.

Announcing its entry into the domestic natural gas market last week, it said it would offer discounts of 10 per cent to the regulated price charged by Bord Gáis, the existing State-owned supplier.

State-owned ESB is also considering offering natural gas to householders in the Republic.