WarrenBuffet
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Sunday Tribune: Business Section (Sunday 6th Sept)
AIRTRICITY unsuccessfully lobbied the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) for an increase in domestic electricity prices last month, it has emerged.
The revelation comes just days after the company, owned by Britain's Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), was unveiled as the main sponsor of RTE's forthcoming 'Spend Clever & Live Better' season.
CER papers indicate that, just weeks earlier, it pressed the regulator to force the ESB to accept "correction" payments designed to compensate it for lower than expected revenues in the past 18 months. If Airtricity had been successful, electricity prices for all domestic users, including its own customers, would have increased from 1 October.
The ESB had previously refused the payments because of the impact they would have on household electricity prices during the recession. Its decision was accepted by the CER, which had similar concerns.
Any price rise would have increased Airtricity's profits as its electricity prices are linked with those of the ESB. But a company spokesman told the Sunday Tribune that this was not the motive behind its lobbying, which was driven by the desire "to have good commercial decision-making in the market and drive competition", he said.
News of the CER consultation comes as Airtricity continues to try to make its presence felt in the domestic electricity market, having been caught out by the highprofile entry of Bord Gais this year. The state gas company now has over 150,000 domestic electricity customers, dwarfing Airtricity's entire customer base of 90,000.
AIRTRICITY unsuccessfully lobbied the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) for an increase in domestic electricity prices last month, it has emerged.
The revelation comes just days after the company, owned by Britain's Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), was unveiled as the main sponsor of RTE's forthcoming 'Spend Clever & Live Better' season.
CER papers indicate that, just weeks earlier, it pressed the regulator to force the ESB to accept "correction" payments designed to compensate it for lower than expected revenues in the past 18 months. If Airtricity had been successful, electricity prices for all domestic users, including its own customers, would have increased from 1 October.
The ESB had previously refused the payments because of the impact they would have on household electricity prices during the recession. Its decision was accepted by the CER, which had similar concerns.
Any price rise would have increased Airtricity's profits as its electricity prices are linked with those of the ESB. But a company spokesman told the Sunday Tribune that this was not the motive behind its lobbying, which was driven by the desire "to have good commercial decision-making in the market and drive competition", he said.
News of the CER consultation comes as Airtricity continues to try to make its presence felt in the domestic electricity market, having been caught out by the highprofile entry of Bord Gais this year. The state gas company now has over 150,000 domestic electricity customers, dwarfing Airtricity's entire customer base of 90,000.