A row has erupted between the ESB and its main rival, Energia, over which has won the lion's share of a contract to supply electricity to hundreds of Government-owned sites, including departments, hospitals and Garda stations.
The contract is valued by the electricity industry at over €26 million, but Energia and ESB Independent Energy yesterday (ESBIE) clashed over which won the majority of the business.
The contract is split into four tranches. Energia won tranche one and two, which consist of low voltage sites, while ESB Independent Energy won tranche three - medium voltage sites.
The final tranche, which consists of small green energy contracts, was won by Bord Gáis Éireann.
The Department of Finance, which oversaw the tender process, refused to reveal the value of the contracts awarded to each company.
However Energia, the supply arm of Viridian plc, said it had secured over 80 per cent of sites and at least 61 per cent of the "cash value" of the contracts.
It said it had won high-profile contracts such as Áras an Uachtaráin and Garda headquarters
But its figures were rejected by ESB Independent Energy, an independent business unit which serves the industrial and commercial market in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
It said it had been awarded the "largest portion of the Department of Finance-led multimillion euro contract".
It claimed its portion of the business was worth € 11.7 million. It said tranche three represented half of the total revenue available.
Mr Patrick Eccles, general manager, ESBIE said: "This is one of the State's largest contracts and demonstrates the solidity of our offering, ability to manage large scale contracts and reflects our strong ethos on service."
Energia said it was not right to measure the contract on the basis of megawatts of power used because the price of electricity also included the charge for using the electricity transmission and distribution system and this charge was higher for smaller users.
The Department of Finance which oversaw the tendering process issued a statement last night, which said: "An evaluation of the tenders has just been completed and the preferred bidders have been informed of the outcome.
"The contract should be awarded shortly, subject to the successful conclusion of final details with the preferred bidders. The value of contracts to be awarded will be available once this award process is completed."
The competition between the two companies is currently intense as many large contracts are renewed at this time of the year.
Energia has scored two major victories in recent months by winning the DART contract and the Department of Communications' one.
However, ESB Independent Energy has won a contract with Superquinn and is also highly active in Northern Ireland.
