Airtricity fuels price war with ad campaign

THE electricity price war is set to heat up as renewable energy firm Airtricity targets domestic customers in a major new ad campaign.

The company, which has slashed prices to 13% below main supplier ESB, last week announced 200 jobs will be created as it sparks competition between the three major providers.

Bord Gáis and its ‘Big Switch’ campaign headed by TV personality Lucy Kennedy has already poached 150,000 electricity customers from the ESB in recent months.

Now Scottish-owned supplier Airtricity, which already claims 70,000 business customers, is looking for a share of the market too, claiming “cheapest standalone rates” in the country in its nationwide campaign beginning today.

According to the firm, Airtricity’s electricity supply is the greenest in the market with 100% of its generation from renewable sources.

The firm’s managing director Kevin Greenhorn said the launch of the campaign was an exciting new development for Airtricity.

“As the leader in green energy generation and supply, Airtricity is committed to supporting jobs and economic stimulus in Ireland.

“Airtricity has invested almost €700 million to date into the Irish economy and a further investment of up to €125m is planned over the next 12 months, in addition to the creation of 200 new jobs to support the development of Airtricity’s electricity supply business,” he said.

“We fully anticipate that more jobs will be created by Airtricity as we increase our customer base.”

The renewable energy supplier will add 50 new positions at its headquarters in Sandyford, while the remaining 150 jobs will be through indirect contracts. The company says the new jobs will encompass sales, customer support, billing and support services.

The success of the Bord Gáis campaign is already evident as it now boasts a 12th of Ireland’s electricity market, with 150,000 customers having switched from the ESB. The gas supplier had expected to have 100,000 electricity customers by the end of the year and, despite the high demand, it is not setting any new targets for the end of 2009.

One of the reasons behind its progress has been the construction of its €400m power plant at Whitegate in East Cork. By this time next year, the firm will have the capability to cater for 400,000 of Ireland’s 1.8 million electricity customers.