New player Vayu enters gas supply market in Ireland

A new energy supply company which will supply natural gas to large industrial and commercial customers is aiming to become one of the leading players in the deregulated Irish energy sector.

Vayu, which manages the energy requirements for members of the Irish Energy Co-operative (IEC), will see the natural gas market open up to approximately 16,000 smaller businesses by July this year.

The company that was set up to address escalating energy costs in Ireland.

It has secured nine customers contracted for the supply of natural gas in Ireland - representing 5.25% of the eligible large Industrial and commercial market.

Originally it was licensed as a shipper and supplier of natural gas in the Irish marketplace by the Commission of Energy Regulation (CER).

Vayu's existing customer base represents annualised revenues of over €4.2m for its first 2 months of operation and the company is seeking to significantly increase its revenues by the end of the year.

Tony Ennis, managing director, Vaÿu, said today : The launch of Vaÿu today represents a major milestone for the energy sector in Ireland.

"Energy prices are rising across the board and we are focused on passing on the benefits of liberalisation to gas users in Ireland," he added.

Vaÿu will work with British trading partner Koch Trading (EKT) Europe - to provide a competitive price offering to members of the IEC and other customers.

The Irish gas market will be further liberalised within weeks as firms that use under the current 5.3 GWh of natural gas per annum threhold are eligible to independently choose their gas supplier.

This equates to approximately 230 eligible customers across 250 sites, with a collective natural gas spend of about €80m (€117.7m).

Ennis added : “Businesses across all industry sectors are increasingly going to be able to independently choose who they want to use as their gas supplier.

"As competition in the market increases, suppliers are going to have to become more competitive on price, which can only be good for the end user,” he concluded.