Electricity and gas supplier Yuno Ltd could extend a winter prize freeze beyond March, according to its chief executive, Cathal Fay.
Yuno, owner of PrePay Power and Yuno Energy, boosted profits by 40 per cent last year to €4.3 million from €3.08 million in 2023, new accounts for the business show.
Commenting on the financial results, Mr Fay indicated that the company could extend the freeze on prices announced last month beyond its current spring deadline.
“Wholesale prices have continued to decrease slightly,” he said.
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“We would be hopeful that we will be able to look at extending it for a further period.”
However, Mr Fay cautioned that the company had to strike a “delicate balance” over the next three months between the prices that it pays for energy and what it charges customers.
Yuno maintains that customers switching to its bill-pay service can save up to €945 a year if they buy both electricity and gas from the business.
Mr Fay believes the company is poised to emerge as the third biggest player in the Republic’s energy market by the end of this year, behind ESB-owned Electric Ireland and Bord Gáis Energy.
[ Yuno Energy freezes energy prices for the winter monthsOpens in new window ]
Figures detailing the rate at which people switch supplier from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, and what Yuno itself sees, indicate it should have signed up 250,000 homes by December 31st.
This would confirm it as the number three behind the other two players, which are part of a much larger organisations.
Electric Ireland is a subsidiary of State-owned group ESB, while London-listed utility Centrica owns Bord Gáis Energy.
“It’s not bad considering we started with zero customers in 2011,” Mr Fay observed.
Yuno now has 1,000 business customers and is seeking to recruit more.
Meanwhile, the company continues to work on its newest division, district heating, where groups of homes are supplied from a single source.
It now manages district heating schemes covering 15,000 apartments.
Schemes that take waste heat from data centres or manufacturers to supply nearby homes are common in Europe.
Such projects cut home heating bills and greenhouse gas emissions.
Yuno is waiting on legislation that will enable this to happen here.
“The Government is moving, we would prefer it to be moving a bit quicker, but it is moving in the right direction,” said Mr Fay.
Accounts filed for Yuno Ltd show turnover rose 11.5 per cent last year to €419.4 million from €376.08 million in 2023.
The company employed 487 staff, from 418 in 2023.
