The Utility Regulator has approved a Prepayment Customer Switching project proposed by Phoenix Natural Gas Ltd. The project will put in place the necessary systems to enable prepayment customers who wish to switch gas supplier to do so in the Greater Belfast area. The planned project implementation date is September 2011. The ability for customers to switch supplier, however, will be dependent upon other gas suppliers entering the market and having their customer switching processes in place.
The Utility Regulator also received a proposal by firmus energy Ltd. for a prepayment customer switching system for the Greater Belfast area. After reviewing the project and the subsequent external assessment of the project, the Utility Regulator has decided not to proceed with the proposal. The assessment concluded that firmus’ proposal made a number of assumptions which are not compatible with current legislation, licences and regulations for the Northern Ireland gas industry. In addition, the assessment found the proposal submitted by firmus energy Ltd. lacked sufficient detail as to how the proposed system would interface with existing systems.