A new energy supply company, Vaÿu, claims to have captured 5.25 per cent of the eligible gas market and secured business from major users such as CRH.
The company hopes to have more than 10 per cent of the gas market by year-end and managing director Mr Tony Ennis said Vaÿu was able to undercut Bord Gáis prices by between 5 and 10 per cent.
The company is licensed to sell on gas and electricity to eligible customers. The directors are all executives from energy-related companies.
If it successfully exploits a gap in the gas market, the company will then turn its attention to electricity. Mr Ennis said the company was formed to address the escalating energy costs in Ireland and provide a voice for industry on energy issues.
The company has signed up nine gas customers out of a total eligible market of 230. The nine customers translate into €4.2 million in annual turnover. Mr Ennis said a CRH facility in Cork was accepting gas from the company and other CRH facilities were considering offers from Vaÿu.
The company will target other major users in the next few months. Several customers are not in a position to change suppliers currently because they have existing contracts with Bord Gáis, he claimed.
Mr Ennis and fellow director, Mr Rory O'Neill, formerly of Bord Gáis, hope to become one of the leading players in the deregulated energy sector.
Some 230 large industrial users are part of the deregulated market at present. This market is worth about €80 million, but from July 1st about 16,000 small and medium enterprises will also become eligible.
Mr Ennis said Vaÿu had a "suite of products" ready for these customers and was just waiting for the Minister for Communications and Natural Resources to sign the order to open the market up further. He said when domestic customers became eligible Vaÿu would also consider supplying them.,
Vaÿu has linked with the giant UK energy trading company Entergy Koch Trading, which trades over 27 billion therms of gas a year. Mr Ennis said this allowed Vaÿu to benefit from major purchasing power.
Several large industrial and commercial organisations have formed an independent co-op called the Irish Energy Co-Operative. Vaÿu is managing gas contracts on behalf of this group.
The main directors of Vaÿu have broad experience in the industry. Mr Ennis was previously head of Logica CMG's energy and utility division. Mr O'Neill has held senior consultancy roles with several European energy companies.
The company's finance director, Mr Bryan Hennessy, has worked at Ernst & Young and OJ Kilkenny.
