The retail arm of electricity supplier Energia made a profit after tax of €135 million last year, accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office show.
Energia Customer Solutions supplies electricity and gas to residential and non-residential customers in Ireland. Its other operations include the contracting of long term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with third-party renewable generators.
The company is a member of the Energia Group, which is majority owned by US private equity firm I Squared Capital.
I Squared, founded 13 years ago by former executives at Morgan Stanley’s infrastructure arm, acquired Energia – then known as Viridian Group – in 2016 from Bahrain’s Arcapita Bank for €1 billion. Arcapita had owned the company for almost a decade.
The results for Energia Customer Solutions, which is the group’s retail arm, show it generated a profit after tax of €135 million in the year ended March 31st, 2024, which was up from a loss of €130.8 million the year before.
Operating profit for the year was €162.1 million as against a loss of €144.4 million in 2023.
The group said the profit reflected the “normalisation of commodity and wholesale prices” with the benefit of lower prices in electricity and gas margins being “partly offset” by lower renewable PPA margins. No dividend was paid during the year.
Turnover at the group fell from €1.8 billion to €1.5 billion, primarily due to lower non-residential and residential gas and electricity revenue reflecting lower prices and volumes. Cost of sales at the unit fell from €1.9 million to €1.3 million.
The group’s non-residential electricity customers fell from 47,400 to 46,800, while non-residential gas customer sites decreased to 2,600 from 2,900.
The group warned in the accounts that increased competition in supply would reduce its margins.
The company’s main competitors in the electricity supply markets are Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis Energy, SSE Airtricity, Prepay Power and Pinergy for electricity, while, for gas, its competitors are Bord Gáis Energy, Electric Ireland, and SSE Airtricity.
“Certain of the company’s competitors may be able to offer lower prices or incentives that may attract customers away from the company thereby reducing its market share, which in turn, may have a material adverse effect on margins achieved,” it said.
The company employs 97 people and spent almost €10 million on staff costs last year.
