Union seeks renationalisation of NIE as redundancies loom

The trade union Unite wants the North's Executive to renationalise ESB-owned Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) after the company announced plans for a "selective redundancy scheme" that could axe 120 jobs.

NIE, which was originally privatised and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1993, was acquired by ESB in 2010 for more than £1 billion.

The company owns the local electricity transmission network and distribution infrastructure in the North which accounts for between 20 to 25 per cent of domestic electricity bills. It is subject to price controls.

NIE wanted to increase consumer bills in order to finance a major infrastructure investment which could have hiked electricity bills up by as much as £25 each year to 2017.

But last month the UK's Competition and Markets Authority said the Competition Commission had ruled against any increase in electricity bills and had instead undertaken a "major redesign of NIE's price control conditions".

This will result in is the average domestic customer’s annual electricity bill falling by £10 by 2017.

At the time NIE said it fully supported the redesign which it said would bring a “closer alignment of the regulatory framework and reporting arrangements with those applied by Ofgem (the GB regulator)”.

Yesterday however the redesign appeared to have direct consequences for NIE employees.

A spokesperson for the company said: “NIE is introducing a voluntary selective redundancy scheme with the aim of reducing staff numbers by 10 per cent (approximately 120 employees).

“The scheme is being introduced in response to a significant reduction in its operating cost allowances under the recent price control determination.”

The company has stressed that there will be no compulsory redundancies but the trade union Unite says the redundancy scheme is being driven “by the need to protect the company’s shareholders’ profits”.

Jimmy Kelly, the union's regional secretary, said: "These job-losses are being sold as necessary to reduce the cost of electricity to consumers. The cost savings being sought by the Electricity Regulator are to be delivered through large-scale redundancies as opposed to reducing the dividends paid to shareholders."

The union said it believes the job losses could undermine quality of service to consumers and have a knock on effect across the North.

“Instead of seeking to safeguard profits through reducing employment, Unite demands that the Northern Ireland assembly take NIE into public ownership,” Mr Kelly said.

The union believes this would encourage large scale investment in Northern Ireland’s electrical infrastructure.

“Such an investment would stimulate the local economy and reduce energy costs to consumers and businesses into the long-term,” Mr Kelly added.