Potential £8.4m investment by energy firm

If approved, this would see the company invest a further £60 million developing its network over this period, making natural gas available to a further 100,000 properties.

14,545 of these potential connections would be in Causeway Coast and Glens supercouncil area with 142km of pipes planned to be laid at an investment of £8.4m.

Firmus energy has laid more than 151.8km of pipe in the Causeway Coast and Glens supercouncil area, connecting its first customer in May 2006.

The company has more than 3,500 customers in the area, including Roe Park Resort, Bushmills Distillery, Ulster University and Dalriada School. This investment to date is worth in excess of £13.4m and has displaced more than 60,000 tonnes of CO2 from the surrounding atmosphere.

The company has been operating in Northern Ireland for only ten years and the 1,000km milestone was always a strategic goal of firmus energy’s intensive development programme.