Northern Ireland Electricity

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Northern Ireland Electricity plc

Type	Private (subsidiary of Viridian Group)
Founded	25 October 1991
Headquarters	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Industry	Energy
Revenue	£693.2 million (2006)
Operating income	£117.6 million
Employees	351 (2006)
Parent	Viridian Group
Website	http://www.nie.co.uk

Northern Ireland Electricity plc (NIE) is the electricity transmission company in Northern Ireland. NIE does not generate electricity but purchases it from several power stations in Northern Ireland, as well as interconnectors with the Republic of Ireland and Scotland. NIE is a subsidiary of Viridian Group.

NIE jointly operates the Moyle Interconnector with Scottish Power, and has three interconnectors with the Electricity Supply Board in the Republic of Ireland. The main interconnector with the Republic of Ireland was built in 1970 between Tandragee and Louth but "the Troubles" saw the interconnector destroyed in 1975 and left in that state for twenty years until repair.^{[citation needed]}

History

In 1973 the Northern Ireland Electricity Service (NIES) was formed as a public utility to generate, transmit and supply electricity to Northern Ireland.

During the Ulster Workers' Council strike in 1974, when electricity supplies were severely disrupted, the government considered generating power using nuclear submarines in Belfast Lough but the idea was abandoned as being technically unfeasible.^{[citation needed]}

In 1991, the company was incorporated as a government-owned public limited company, Northern Ireland Electricity plc. In 1992 the four power stations at Belfast, Ballylumford, Coolkeeragh and Carrickfergus (Kilroot) were demerged and sold. In 1993 the remainder of NIE (transmission, supply and retail businesses) was privatised as Northern Ireland Electricity plc. In 1998, Northern Ireland Electricity plc became part of Viridian Group plc, with Northern Ireland Electricity now a subsidiary of that holding company. Northern Ireland Electricity supplies electricity to approximately 740,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland.

NIE has often been criticised for having the most expensive electricity in Europe.^{[citation needed]} This is attributed to a number of factors including the small population of Northern Ireland and the large areas of thinly populated countryside the company is required to serve, the large amount of redundant generating capacity in the system (to ensure security of supply during demand peaks) and the network's over-dependence on oil-fired generation.^{[citation needed]} The lack of competition in the Northern Ireland market is also undoubtedly a factor, although the introduction of the Single Electricity Market (SEM) in Ireland in late 2007 was designed to address this.^{[citation needed]} Recently the transmission regulator SONI was divested by agreement after consultation by NIE, part of Viridian to Eirgrid for €37.6m putting SONI into a similar separation of regulation from network management to the Electricity Supply Board and Eirgrid returning transmission regulation to state onwership.[1]

In 2008 NIE sponsored a new solar roof for Straidhavern Primary School through its Smart programme.^[1]

References

1. ^ “Straidhavern Primary School switches onto solar power.” BNET. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2009. <http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/antrim-times-ireland/mi_7783/is_2008_March_18/straidhavern-primary-school-switchessolar/ai_n34970950/>

See also

Energy portal

• List of Irish companies
• Energy policy of the United Kingdom
• Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
• Green electricity in the United Kingdom

External links

• Official site