Bord Gáis profits tumble 34% in wake of Whitegate closure

Irish energy supplier also shed 4,000 customers, reflecting the competitive pricing environment

The 34% drop in profits suffered by Bord Gáis Energy were revealed in the half-year financial results of its British parent company, Centrica.  

Bord Gáis Energy suffered a 34% drop in profits in the first half of the year, largely due to the temporary closure of its Whitegate power plant in Co Cork, which is now not expected to reopen until November.

The half-year financial results of its British parent Centrica showed Bord Gáis Energy generated an adjusted operating profit of £19m (€22m) for the first six months of this year, down from a £29m profit recorded in the first half of 2020.

Centrica called the first-half financial performance of its Irish business “robust”, but said the financial result here was impacted by the Whitegate outage.

November date for Whitegate restart 

Technical issues, surrounding turbines, forced the closure of Bord Gáis’ key gas-fired energy generation station in December.

While initially expected to be back in service by June, Whitegate is not expected to be back online until November 4.

“Our business results … reflect the hard work from our team in the face of significant challenges of Covid and the additional impact of the prolonged Whitegate outage with the power station experiencing a forced shutdown,” a spokesperson for Bord Gáis Energy said.  

“The market has been notified of our current expectation to be offline until 4 November 2021,” they said.

'Unprecedented year of challenges'

The company said it has remained “intensely focused” on supporting its customers in what has been “an unprecedented year of challenges” for households and businesses in Ireland.

That said, Bord Gáis Energy saw a 1% — or 4,000 — fall in customer numbers, closing the first half of this year with 479,000 customers. Centrica said the dip in Bord Gáis customer numbers reflected a competitive pricing environment. However, the level of products per customer increased, the company said.

Centrica said Bord Gáis’ operating profit was partly offset by a benefit from cost efficiencies and lower bad debt costs, with 2020 having been impacted by higher Covid-related provisions.

Group-wide, Centrica, which also owns British Gas, said its pre-tax earnings in the first half of 2021 fell 9% year on year to £682m.

“Our first-half financial performance was broadly as we expected overall,” said group chief executive Chris O’Shea.

Ireland 'could be a renewables superpower' 

Meanwhile, renewable energy advocate Wind Energy Ireland (WEI) has called for urgent Government action to enable Ireland to become a renewables “superpower” and allow for the building of floating wind farms in Irish waters.

“We have a strong pipeline of projects waiting only for determined and co-ordinated action from Government,” said Wind Energy Ireland CEO Noel Cunniffe.

While fixed-foundation wind farms will still make up a significant portion of Ireland’s offshore wind-generated energy targets, WEI said floating farms can act as a considerable addition.

Floating wind farms can be located in much deeper waters — thus allowing for improved access to more wind resources — and rely less on seabed conditions.

Amendments to the Maritime Area Planning Bill will be needed to allow for their construction, along with significant port investment and the strengthening of the national grid.