Power network company Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) this week became the second utility in the province to reject a regulatory decision and call for a Competition Commission probe. NIE’s move followed Northern Ireland Water’s robust push back on its draft price control determination.
NIE said the Utility Regulator in its final determination “did not come close” to allowing NIE to fund its activities and provide adequate service to its customers. “Significant elements of NIE’s reasonable requests for funding have been disallowed without reasonable justification,” the company said.
The stand-off followed Phoenix Natural Gas’s rejection in February of its final price control decision. That too was referred to the Competition Commission , which is due to publish its decision next week.
Earlier this month, NI Water threw out the Utility Regulator’s draft determination for its next price controls. A spokesman said at the time: “The draft determination will not serve customers’ best interests or protect service delivery and therefore cannot be acceptable to NI Water.”
Utility Regulator chief executive Shane Lynch said: “There will always be tension in the price control process, in striking the balance between consumers’ and investors’ needs.”
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 23rd November 2012.
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