Gas to the West publications

Gas to the West final decision paper and licences

11/02/15

On 18 December 2014 the Utility Regulator issued a public consultation on the proposed grant of separate gas conveyance licences to Scotia Gas Networks NI Limited and to Northern Ireland Energy Holdings Limited.

We received one response to the consultation from firmus energy. This response did not raise any objections to the proposal to grant a licence to either Scotia Gas Networks NI Limited or to Northern Ireland Energy Holdings Limited.

In accordance with Article 8(6) of the Gas (NI) Order 1996, the Utility Regulator now gives notice that a licence for the conveyance of gas in Northern Ireland has been granted to both Scotia Gas Networks NI Limited and to Northern Ireland Energy Holdings Limited on 11 February 2015.

The Utility Regulator has also published a final decision paper alongside these licences.


Utility Regulator decision on preferred applicant for the Gas to the West Competition

The Utility Regulator today publishes its decision on the preferred applicant for the competitive licence to extend the Gas Network to the west of Northern ireland.

We have carried out an assessment against the criteria determined by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and have also consulted on the preferred applicant. 

Our decision for the  preferred and a reserve applicant for each licence is set out below:

Preferred applicant:
High pressure – Northern Ireland Energy Holdings (Mutual Energy Ltd)
Low pressure – Scotia Gas Networks

Reserve applicant:
High pressure – BGE UK
Low pressure – firmus

The final stage in the process is the award of two exclusive gas conveyance licences to bring gas to the towns of Strabane, Omagh, Enniskillen, Derrylin, Dungannon, Coalisland, Cookstown and Magherafelt.

We expect to conduct a statutory 28-day consultation on the conditions of the two conveyance licenses before the end of the year.

Consultation Responses

UR consults on preferred applicant in Gas to the West competition

12/08/14

The UR today publishes its consultation on the preferred applicant in the competitive licence application process to extend the gas network to the west of Northern Ireland.

Following the completion of the competition, the UR will award two exclusive gas conveyance licences to bring gas to the towns of Strabane, Omagh, Enniskillen, Derrylin, Dungannon, Coalisland, Cookstown and Magherafelt.

Eight applications were received as part of the competitive process, four for the high pressure licence and four for the low pressure licence.  Today we are also publishing all of the information and evidence considered by the UR in reaching its provisional conclusions.

We have carried out an assessment of these applications against the criteria determined by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, and have provisionally identified both a preferred and a reserve applicant for each licence as set out below:

Preferred applicant:
High pressure – Northern Ireland Energy Holdings (Mutual Energy Ltd)
Low pressure – Scotia Gas Networks

Reserve applicant:
High pressure – BGE UK
Low pressure – firmus

We welcome comments from all interested parties on our provisional conclusions.  The consultation closes at 5pm on Tuesday 7 October 2014 and responses should be sent to:

gastothewest@uregni.gov.uk

Gas to the West project team
Gas Branch
Utility Regulator
Queens House
14 Queens Street
Belfast
BT1 6ED

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

Gas to the west evaluation committee

16/04/14

The Utility Regulator today publishes the members of the Gas to the West Evaluation Committee.

The Gas to the West applications will be evaluated against the DETI Published Criteria by a three member Committee acting on behalf of the Authority.  Two of the members of the Committee will be members of the Authority and the third a Director.  The members of the Committee will be Jenny Pyper, Harry McCracken and Brian McHugh.  The members of the Committee will take the decision regarding the choice of the preferred applicant.

Gas to the west – answers to further clarification questions

16/04/14

The Utility Regulator today publishes its response to a number of clarification questions which interested parties have asked about the licence application process for the gas to the west project.

As part of the application process, interested parties have been provided with an opportunity to seek clarification on any issues related to the process and the licences to be granted. So as to provide all potential applicants with the same information these clarification questions and the Utility Regulator’s response are to be published on the Gas to the West webpage in annonomised form.

The deadline for receipt of clarification questions relating to the gas to the west project closed on 7 April 2014.

UR launches gas to the west licence application process

06/02/14

The Utility Regulator today announces the launch of the competitive licence application process to extend the gas network in Northern Ireland to the towns of Strabane, Omagh, Enniskillen, Derrylin, Dungannon, Coalisland, Cookstown and Magherafelt. To view a press release announcing the launch, please click here.

Two exclusive gas conveyance licences will be awarded, one for high pressure assets and another for low pressure assets.  In addition to the network design data we have already published in October 2013, we are publishing the applicant information pack and associated annexes.  The deadline for receipt of applications for these licences is Tuesday 6 May at 12.00 noon.  It is intended that the two licences will be granted in October 2014.

• Gas Network Extensions in Northern Ireland: Gas to the West: Applicant Information Pack.

Accompanying annexes:

• Annex 1 - Disclaimer and notices
• Annex 2 - on the DETI Grant Funding– Likely requirements in respect of social clauses
• Annex 3 - Form of application reproduced from the Regulations
• Annex 4 - Standard licence conditions
• Annex 5 - High pressure operational business plan template
• Annex 6 - Low pressure operational business plan template
• Annex 7 - High pressure workbook notes
• Annex 8 - Low pressure workbook notes
• Annex 9 - High pressure data input workbook
• Annex 10 - Low pressure data input workbook

The development of the competitive licence application process follows extensive consultation with industry.  In April 2013 we published a consultation paper seeking the views of interested parties on how the competitive process to award the necessary licences should be conducted.  We received 8 responses.  Two of the responses were confidential and the other six are published below:

• Bord Gais Networks
• The Consumer Council
• Federation of Small Business
• Firmus Energy
• Phoenix Natural Gas
• United Dairy Farmers

Today we also publish the conclusions paper explaining our decisions on the conduct of the process.

• Gas network extensions in Northern Ireland: A conclusions paper

All applications and correspondence relating to the gas to the west project should be sent to:  mailto:gastothewest@uregni.gov.uk

or Gas to the west project team
Utility Regulator
Queens House
14 Queen Street
Belfast
BT1 6ED

Gas Network Extensions in NI: Approach to comparing high pressure licence applications

06/02/14

The Utility Regulator today publishes a consultation paper seeking views on our approach to comparing applications for the high pressure gas conveyance licence in the Gas to the West area. 

In our conclusions paper setting out our decisions on the Gas to the West licence application process we concluded that, those applicants seeking the high pressure gas conveyance licence had the option of making their application on either a ‘revenue cap’ or ‘cost pass through’ treatment of operating expenditure. We recognised that in order to effectively compare applications made on either basis an adjustment would be required to reflect the different level of risk borne by investors under each option. This consultation paper discusses a proposed methodology for calculating the necessary adjustment and a range of values within which the final adjustment figure is likely to fall

Any responses to the consultation should be received no later than 5pm Thursday 20 March 2014, preferably in electronic format to graham.craig@uregni.co.uk or alternatively sent to the address below:

Graham Craig
Utility Regulator
Queens House
14 Queen Street
Belfast
BT1 6ED

Copies of the document will be made available in large print, Braille, audio cassette and a variety of minority languages if required.

Related documents:

Application process

Gas to the West update - October 2013

Network design information

Consultation process

Additional Information

14/01/2013 - The Utility Regulator is pursuing extending natural gas to the west of Northern Ireland.  The Energy Minister welcomes this move.

External Links

DETI energy