NIE Bills Could Drop In Next Five Years

Northern Ireland's Utility Regulator has calculated that the amount of money needed to maintain electricity networks comes in a less than half the amount Northern Ireland Electricity claims it needs.

This could mean savings on electricity bills for customers, with suggestions that household electricity bills could be cut by as much as £72 over the next few years.

NIE had said that they needed to increase household bills to £128 over the next five years in order to maintain the network.

The company said it is needed to cover basic maintenance and improvements to the network.

The regulator however has considered this request for more money, and decided that it is not justified.

According to a report by UTV the Regulator said only £288m is needed to maintain and develop the electricity network, not the £717m that Northern Ireland Electricity has said it needs.

The regulator has launched a consultation on its proposals relating to the NIE Transmission and Distribution (NIE T&D) price control (called RP5).

The final price control will be published by the end of the year, and will determine the amount of revenue to allow NIE T&D to finance the ongoing build and operation of the electricity network, following scrutiny by the Utility Regulator, for the period 2012-2017.

Utility Regulator Chief Executive, Shane Lynch said: "Today marks the beginning of a formal 13-week consultation on this price control. Our proposals are focused on protecting consumers, both now and in the future, while at the same time protecting investors.

"Consumers deserve to have a modern high performing electricity network which will accommodate renewables, at a reasonable cost. Our proposals are designed to achieve all of this and we look forward to further discussion with NIE T&D. We also intend to engage extensively with other stakeholders over the period of public consultation."

(LB)