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

Today the Utility Regulator publishes its latest Quarterly Transparency Report (QTR) for Quarter 1 (January to March) 2019.

We publish retail Transparency Reports on an annual and quarterly basis. The reports provide a range of information about the electricity and gas energy supply markets in Northern Ireland. The QTR and ATR 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.

The pricing data in the QTR is sourced from Eurostat and individual supplier’s submissions under the REMM framework. The most recent pricing data (semester 2 July to December 2018) illustrates the following:

• NI domestic electricity prices continue to rank amongst the lowest in Europe at 15.6 p/kWh and are considerably lower than the Republic of Ireland (22.6 p/kWh), the EU median (18.0 p/kWh) and the UK (18.0 p/kWh).
• NI I&C electricity prices for the very small connections (which represent 67% of I&C connections) remain among the lowest in Europe. The NI price at 15.9 p/kWh is lower than the EU median (16.0 p/kWh), the Republic of Ireland (18.8 p/kWh) and the UK (16.0 p/kWh).
• For medium and large I&C customers, NI prices are higher than RoI but are lower than in the UK overall.
• The domestic gas prices in NI are amongst the lowest in Europe at 4.51 p/kWh. This is less than RoI at 6.77 p/kWh, the EU median at 6.78 p/kWh and the rest of the UK at 4.61 p/kWh.

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

Direct Tel: +44 (0) 28 9031 6656

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