Royal Bank of Canada representatives will attend talks in Belfast today to discuss Northern Ireland electricity prices, the highest in the UK. But a spokesman last night denied the bank had any current plans to make a bid to buy out the network, estimated to be worth £700 million sterling (€1.1 billion).

Senior businessmen and industrialists have been invited to a meeting to be chaired by Sir George Quigley, the Northern Ireland chairman of the Canadian-owned Bombardier Aerospace Company, which has a major factory in Belfast.

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) has been heavily criticised because of the high costs. Industrialists claim they are having a serious impact on business.

The Royal Bank of Canada has been involved in extensive moves to lower the costs of power supplies in Canada. A spokesman said last night representatives would be at the Belfast meeting which, he claimed, was being called to examine ways of restructuring electricity costs.

But he categorically denied any moves, at this stage, to mount a takeover of NIE, which is owned by the Viridian Group. A spokesman said: "They will be there as spectators. They have no functional role."

NIE has 700,000 customers. A spokesman said last night they had not been invited to attend today's meeting.

He added: "No formal proposal has been put to the board of NIE or the Viridian Group. Until one has been, we are unable to make a specific comment."