Independent Report Recommends Coordinated NI Energy Policy

A single department with  responsibility for all energy  matters, the radical reduction of  Northern Ireland’s dependency on  home heating oil, and renewable  electricity-based heating for the  south and west where gas  networks may never reach, are  just three of the recommendations  of a new report on the energy  industry in Northern Ireland.  The independent report,  ‘Energising Northern Ireland’, was  commissioned by the Consumer  Council and produced by former  GB energy Minister, Lord Whitty.  Speaking at the launch of his  report, Lord Whitty said: “I am  pleased to have had the  opportunity to explore the NI  energy market and its unique  problems, complexities and  peculiarities.  “Although Northern Ireland’s  energy is affected greatly by  global markets, policy in Great  Britain, relations with the Republic  of Ireland and the European  Union, much of the energy policy  levers rest with the Northern  Ireland Executive and the Utility  Regulator. My Report looks at the  long term interests of domestic  energy consumers in Northern  Ireland, recognising the difficult  choices and substantial short and  medium term costs involved.  “Specifically I have considered  the issues of affordability,  sustainability and security of  supply, which are different but  cross-related and interdependent,  and because of this my report  attempts to bring together these  disparate players and issues to  provide a coherent strategic  framework.  “I believe that progressing these  issues in a more coherent way  can deliver reductions in fuel  poverty, significant carbon saving,  better infrastructure and more  secure supply.”  The ‘Energising Northern Ireland’  report also recommends a far  more substantial energy  efficiency programme, that home  heating oil be included in the remit  of the Utility Regulator (as an  interim measure to reducing NI’s  dependency on home heating oil),  and that objectives to reduce fuel  poverty and decarbonise energy  supply be considered just as  important as security of supply.  The Consumer Council’s Chief  Executive, Antoinette McKeown  welcomed the publication, saying:  “This report offers an independent  view of the Northern Ireland  energy industry as a whole. It  offers radical but practicable  recommendations for coherent  and coordinated energy policy, at  a time when so many households  are desperately trying to cope  with continually rising energy  prices, within an overall  increasing cost of living.”