Utility Regulator oversees Coolkeeragh but has no say on prices

She was asked by Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) MLA Jim Allister if “she was satisfied that ESB Independent Energy and its satellites were not passing on inefficiency costs to customers in Northern Ireland.”

Mrs Foster replied: “ESB Independent Energy, along with ESB Customer Supply, were the electricity supply businesses within the Irish semi-state owned Electricity Supply Board, and have been merged and rebranded as Electric Ireland. “The company offers electricity supply to some business customers in Northern Ireland and has recently expressed an interest in supplying the domestic market here.

“All participants in the energy market in Northern Ireland, including the ESB owned NIE networks business, the ESBI owned Coolkeeragh power station, and Electric Ireland, are subject to various degrees of regulatory oversight by the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation, however Electric Ireland’s final consumer tariffs will not be specifically controlled by the Utility Regulator as they will be operating as a competitor in the business and domestic electricity markets.

“The entry of new suppliers to the electricity market will offer households and small businesses greater choice and competitive pricing.”

Mr Allister also asked if “a new efficient and flexible power station in Northern Ireland would create employment and better serve local interests rather than the erection of a second north-south electricity interconnector.”

The Minister said the creation of a new power station would be a matter for private energy companies and said a second north-south interconnector would improve competition.

“Investment in new electricity power generation is a commercial decision that depends on a company’s ability to trade competitively within the cross border wholesale electricity market,” she stated.

“A new power station could create employment but whether it would better serve local interests depends on a plant being able to produce its power more cheaply than competitors. It must also be able to move its power through a reliable electricity grid infrastructure with adequate interconnection capacity with Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Competition will be greatly improved by the construction of a second North-South interconnector,” she added.