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PRESS RELEASES
01 May 2007
NI OIL FEDERATION CHALLENGES UTILITY REGULATOR
The Northern Ireland Oil Federation has challenged the statement by the Chief Executive of the Utility Regulator that, “consumers could save money by switching to natural gas for their heating”, (UTV 21 March 2007). The challenge comes after the recent publication of the Sutherland independent home heat costs that revealed that it was cheaper to heat your home with oil rather than natural gas over the period November 06 – April 07. David Blevings said on behalf of the NI Oil Federation, “We feel particularly aggrieved at the Regulator’s comments. Given his position, consumers are likely to be influenced by those comments and may think about changing fuels to natural gas whereas independent data proves that oil provides a cheaper form of energy. We wrote to the Regulator asking him to substantiate his claim in April but did not even receive the courtesy of a reply”. “The latest Sutherland figures once again prove that oil is more responsive to the dynamics of the marketplace and is less expensive than natural gas on an annual basis. While there are competitive pressures from other sources of energy, over 70% of Northern Ireland consumers benefit from oil home heat and will be able to enjoy these cost savings”. Ends Notes for Editors: Sutherland is an independent energy monitor and provides comparative domestic heating costs for the UK and ROI. (www.sutherlandtables.co.uk) Annual cost for space and hot water heating a 3-bed house in NI at April 2007: Oil - £*859 Firmus Energy - £903* Phoenix Natural Gas - £1144* *non-condensing boilers