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UK: CMA overrules Northern Ireland energy price plans

By  |  April 15, 2014

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has overruled Northern Ireland Electricity’s plans to hike energy bills, a year after NIE and the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator clashed about the price hikes intended to fund power grid updates.

Reports say the CMA has “struck the right balance” between allowing infrastructure investment and keeping electricity bills in check in the area.

After the former Competition Commission was called in to resolve the pricing conflict, the CMA, which recently came into power after the Commission and Office of Fair Trading merged, determined Tuesday to reduce NIE’s maximum regulated revenue, a decision that will shift the price model of the utility. The plan, say reports, will result in about $16 worth of energy bill cuts by September 2017, down from the proposed $41 hike NIE had looked for to fund infrastructure updates over the next five years.

Full Content: BBC

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