BT is the latest company to make the switch to 100 per cent green energy supplied by business energy provider Airtricity. BT, which operates as an all-island operation, and employs close to 3,000 people across 250 sites, made the switch as part of its on-going commitment to reduce energy use and resource dependency in keeping with the challenging targets embedded in their Better Future corporate responsibility programme.
The announcement will see Airtricity supply electricity to all of BT’s operations in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Airtricity is Northern Ireland’s No.1 business energy provider, supplying gas and electricity to over 16,000 commercial customers and is the largest commercial supplier. Last year Airtricity supplied around 1.5TWh of electricity to power businesses across Northern Ireland.
Bernard McReynolds, Airtricity Key Account Relationship Manager, welcomed the announcement as good news for the commercial energy sector in Northern Ireland:
“We are delighted that BT has made the switch to our 100 per cent green energy supply. More and more businesses in Northern Ireland are switching to Airtricity and it is encouraging to see a firm with such a strong commitment to environment sustainability become our customer. In addition, BT works closely with its suppliers to reduce energy use and we will be sharing advice and expertise to support the delivery of this objective.”
Alex Crossan, Director of Networks, BT Ireland said:
“It’s widely recognised that communications technology has a significant role to play in enabling businesses and individuals to use resources efficiently, whilst at the same time having a positive impact on the environment. BT takes its responsibility very seriously and has put challenging targets in place to demonstrate improvements in both energy consumption and environmental impact when awarding contracts with our partners. With that in mind I’m delighted to welcome Airtricity to our growing base of suppliers who also share that focus and commitment”.
About Airtricity (NI)
Airtricity is Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing and second largest energy provider, and supplies over 300,000 domestic and commercial customers with gas and electricity.
A wholly-owned division of the Perth, Scotland, based SSE plc, Airtricity entered Northern Ireland’s commercial energy market in 2002 and became the first market entrant into Northern Ireland’s newly formed domestic electricity supply market in 2010.
As well as being the country’s No.1 business energy supplier Airtricity is now Northern Ireland’s No.1 gas and No.2 domestic electricity supplier, and earlier this year the company became the first competitive entrant into the Ten Towns Gas Supply Network.
Airtricity is powered by SSE with renewable energy from Northern Ireland’s largest wind generation portfolio. The company operates 4 wind farms in Northern Ireland generating around 80MW of green energy, making it the country’s No.1 renewable energy generator. Since entering Northern Ireland’s energy market in 2008, SSE has invested almost £400million into Northern Ireland.
SSE is the broadest-based energy utility in the UK, with interests and experience in electricity and gas production, distribution, supply and services. The Top 40 FTSE-listed company has over 11,000MW of electricity generation, distributes electricity to 3.5 million homes and businesses and supplies electricity, gas and related services to around 10 million customers.
