Bord Gáis to make loss despite record 20% charge hike

BORD GÁIS’S household supply division is on course to make a loss this year despite forcing record 20% price hikes onto consumers.

Consumers have seen average annual bills rocket from €902 in 2006 to €1,087 this year, despite gas prices tumbling on world markets. Bord Gáis has hiked prices after buying gas for this year at sky-high prices in 2006.

Despite passing on the rise in full to consumers and adding a 1.3% mark-up, Bord Gáis has admitted its consumer supply arm will make a loss this year.

“We made a loss last year and we will make a loss this year, that’s a fact,” Bord Gáis Energy Supply chief David Bunworth said.

Of the average €1,080 bill, 62% or €674 is for gas, yet Bord Gáis Energy Supply makes a loss despite the inflation-busting rises imposed on this year’s bills.

The remainder of the bill comes to €413 and is for piping the gas from Europe into customers’ homes.

Any profits made by Bord Gáis overall came from its underground pipes division, which imposes charges on customers for using its €2 billion network of pipes criss-crossing Ireland.

Last year Bord Gáis as a whole made €108m profit thanks to the fees charged to pipe in gas from Britain and Europe. Mr Bunworth insisted that without the 20% rises in household bills Bord Gáis would make an overall loss this year of €50m.

“It has cost us €150m more to buy gas this year than last and that would’ve written all our (€108m) profit off and we would have made a loss,” he said.

The boss was speaking on yesterday’s Derek Mooney show on RTÉ Radio One after the Irish Examiner revealed how bills had gone up while gas prices had gone down.

Mr Bunworth insisted Bord Gáis had no choice but to buy this year’s fuel at last year’s high prices.

Prices on world gas markets were volatile and the cost could have risen even further, listeners were told.

But the decision to hike prices came under fire from Michael Kilcoyne, chairman of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland.

“The public are at the mercy of Bord Gáis and the company is taking advantage of it,” he said.