Bord Gáis will be allowed recover €131 million for operating the gas distribution network in 2003 and 2004. According to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), the tariffs charged by Bord Gáis must rise by 5.6 per cent to recover this sum.
About 250 customers are eligible to buy gas from whatever supplier they choose. To do this, they use the Bord Gáis distribution network. Bord Gáis has considerable operating and maintenance costs to recover and these are calculated by the CER.
The CER said yesterday that, over the next year, the tariff structure would be reviewed.
Value of FDI stock jumps tenfold
The dramatic increase in the world's economic interdependence due to globalisation is demonstrated in new figures on stocks of foreign direct investment (FDI) released yesterday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, ahead of its annual world investment report next week.
The global stock of FDI jumped more than tenfold in 1980-2002, to $7,100 billion (€6,515 billion), as transnational companies spread their production and distribution systems around the world.
The figures showed China gaining ground fast on the US as the world's most popular location for FDI.
Following China, the largest recipient of FDI capital in the developing world has been Brazil, which has seen its stock of FDI jump from $37 billion to $236 billion. - (Financial Times Service)
Dollar weakens against euro
The dollar was softer against the euro yesterday, with the market reacting to geopolitical events in thin trade.
A series of bomb blasts in Bombay proved negative for the dollar as investors sought to minimise risk. But most analysts were sanguine about the near-term implications for the dollar of a worsening geopolitical outlook.
The euro gained a little against the US currency to $1.0905, from the close of $1.0859 in New York on Friday.
Fujitsu signs $1.7m Woodie's deal
Fujitsu has agreed a $1.7 million contract to supply an integrated retail point of sale and head office computer system to Woodie's DIY chain. The deal covers 10 check-out lanes in its 15 stores, in addition to back-office and headquarter functions. The solution includes Microsoft's Navision software - the first time it has been used by a major Irish retailer.
Woodie's employs almost 1,000 people.
ComReg agrees Net services' price
The Commission for Communication Regulation (ComReg) has agreed new prices for a product that should cut the cost for Eircom's rivals to provide high-speed internet services.
Following a bitter dispute over the past six months with Eircom over the prices, ComReg said yesterday it had agreed to Eircom's latest pricing proposals for partial private circuit products.
These interconnect products enable Eircom's rivals to provide data services to businesses using Eircom's own local network.
Vivendi may face $1.5bn US tax bill
French-American media group Vivendi Universal said yesterday that US tax authorities were seeking additional taxes of $1.5 billion (€1.4 billion) plus interest connected to a 1995 sale of stock in chemical firm Dupont.
Vivendi said the IRS had notified it on August 21st that it was challenging the tax treatment reported on the share sale by Seagram, which Vivendi acquired in 2000. - (Reuters)
