Electric Ireland is going to be the new name for the ESB.
The part of ESB that is responsible for supplying electricity to residential homes and business in Ireland will be re-branded as Electric Ireland in an exercise that is expected to cost as much as €8 Milllion. The money will be spent on implementing the name change and on sales and marketing of Electric Ireland .
Electricity customers will see the Electric Ireland name on their bills from April 2011 – but the current ESB logo will still be shown to avoid confusion until the start of 2012.
The ESB (Electricity Supply Board) was set up in 1927 and they were the only residential Electricity suppliers until market opening took place 2005.
However, the Commission for Energy Regulation continues to regulate electricity tariffs for customers supplied by ESB – whilst Airticity and Bord Gais electricity prices are not regulated. The new brand name is one of the conditions for ESB to receive regulatory freedom to compete in the domestic market.
ESB is expected to secure regulatory freedom to compete in the residential electricity market in early 2011 – they will then also enter the residential gas market.
These days – companies rebranding have to make sure domain names are available before they choose a name. The domain www.electricireland.com was already taken – so they had to buy it off someone.
There is a small company called Ireland Electric in Virginia USA who might be getting a few more visits to their website in 2011.
See Electricity Prices in Ireland Compared