Airtricity enters domestic gas market

Airtricity says its move into the natural gas market will create up to 200 jobs and save some consumers an average of €210 a year on their total energy bills

The Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE)-owned company confirmed today that it is set to begin competing with State-owned Bord Gáis in the domestic natural gas market.

Managing director, Kevin Greenhorn, said it will be offering a 10 per cent discount to the State company's price, and said that this, combined with its existing electricity offering, will save some customers and average of €210 a year. "That's five weeks free gas and electricity," he said.

Mr Greenhorn said that the move will create 200 new jobs, 100 of them in customer support, the other 100, which will be outsourced, in sales. All those positions will be filled between now and April of next year.

The company is already supplying electricity to around 200,000 households and it expects that its new offering will increase that to around half a million.

Bord Gáis supplies natural gas and electricity to around 1 million customers. It is the dominant player in the domestic natural gas market with over 600,000 households on its books.

Airtricity has been planning for some time to begin competing for this business, and it the ESB has also confirmed that it is looking at entering this market later this year.

That would bring to three the number of dual fuel – electricity and natural gas - suppliers in the Republic's market.

The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) sets the price that Bord Gáis charges its household customers, but this will not apply to any of its competitors.