Viridian, the parent-company of Northern Ireland Electricity has told its shareholders that electricity prices in the North could be substantially reduced once interconnectors with Scotland and the Republic were in place.

Viridian's held its a.g.m. in Belfast yesterday, from which the media were excluded. After the meeting its chief executive, Dr Patrick Haren, told The Irish Times it was hoping to pass on reductions in the cost of generating electricity to its customers once its joint venture with CRH for a £300-million power-station at Huntstown, Co Dublin, was up and running.

"The North-South interconnection is aimed at putting in place trading systems in generation on both sides of the Border which will enable customers to look increasingly to the island of Ireland for generation provision. That's why we are building the power station in Huntstown together with our partners, CRH," Dr Haren said.

NIE will be eliminating standing charges for 70 per cent of its customers - mainly small domestic users - from October, while large users will be able to retain the current tariff structure if that is more favourable for them.