Latest quarterly transparency report on NI’s retail energy market published

The Utility Regulator today publishes its latest Quarterly Transparency Report (QTR) for Quarter 3 (July to September) 2017.

We publish retail market Quarterly  Transparency Reports at the end of February, May, August and November each year.  The reports provide a range of information about the electricity and gas energy supply markets in Northern Ireland. The QTR presents data collected by the UR as part of the Retail Energy Market Monitoring (REMM) framework. REMM requires network companies and suppliers to submit data on a range of indicators to enhance UR transparency around market behaviours and regulatory compliance.  We use the information outlined in the report to review the progress and impact of supply competition; build knowledge for regulatory decisions; comply with EU Third Package mandatory requirements on market monitoring; allow other interested stakeholders to understand more readily the activity within our energy markets; and to help promote the interests of consumers.

EU pricing comparative data within the report is sourced from Eurostat, and can be influenced by exchange rate movements as well as underlying prices and costs.

The semester 1 (January - June) 2017 electricity pricing data is sourced from Eurostat and individual supplier’s submissions under the REMM framework. The current pricing data illustrates the following:

NI domestic electricity prices continue to rank amongst the lowest in Europe at 14.1 p/kWh and are considerably lower than the Republic of Ireland (19.8 p/kWh), the EU median (16.8p/kWh) and the UK (15.2 p/kWh).

This is the first QTR where the gas pricing section is presented using the Eurostat methodology, with the NI price derived from data submitted by suppliers under the REMM framework.Consequently for our reporting purposes this aligns how the NI gas and electricity prices are calculated. It is evident that the domestic gas prices in NI are amongst the lowest in Europe at 3.76 p/kWh. This is less than RoI at 5.44 p/kWh and the rest of the UK at 4.03 p/kWh.

Any comments or queries in relation to this paper should be made to:

Sean.Murphy@uregni.gov.uk   

Direct Tel: +44 (0) 28 9031 6332

Copies of all documents can be made available in large print, Braille, audio cassette and a variety of relevant minority languages if require