Firmus reduces Ten Towns tariff

The reduction along the supply line which runs from Londonderry to Newry will mean annual savings of £43 for an average domestic customer.

“We have more than 28,000 customers in the Ten Towns area and continually strive to keep our natural gas prices as low and as stable as possible for our customers,” said managing director Michael Scott.

“Along with our excellent customer service we monitor all costs and global wholesale fuel prices on a daily basis to ensure our tariffs offer the best value possible and any savings are passed on as soon as we can to our customers.”

Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell said: “The planned retail gas price reduction by firmus energy in their “10 Towns” licence area is welcome news for gas consumers, and follows their announcement earlier this week of a price reduction of up to 9.75% in the Greater Belfast gas market.

“In recent weeks, we have seen the announcement of a number of electricity and gas price reductions and, while these will impact mostly on domestic and smaller business customers, it is likely larger energy users will also be seeing benefits from falls in wholesale energy prices on world markets.”

Richard Williams, head of energy at the Consumer Council said: “Unlike Belfast, there is no other gas supplier in the Ten Towns licence area.

“However, in the absence of competition, consumers can at least be confident that the regulatory process ensures that the price they are paying is fair.”