THE ESB has announced that the new brand “Electric Ireland” will replace the company’s existing brands that are currently supplying electricity to residential homes and business.
Customers can expect to see the newly rebranded Electric Ireland name on their bills and communications with the ESB from April.
However, the ESB logo will accompany such communications next year, and disappear at the start of 2012.
The introduction of a new brand is one of a number of conditions that will allow the ESB to receive regulatory freedom, from the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), to compete in the domestic energy market.
A spokesman for ESB said it would introduce the new brand in a cost-effective and practical manner, and there would be no impact on customer bills.
He said the ESB would spend €6 million to €8 million implementing the name change and on sales and marketing of Electric Ireland next year.
The rebranding decision was described by Fine Gael energy spokesman Leo Varadkar as a “total waste of money” that would inevitably result in higher bills for domestic and business users.