Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), the parent company of Airtricity, now Ireland's second largest energy supplier, has today announced that it has invested the equivalent of €1,000,000 in Ireland every day for the last five years.
The company made the announcement on the event of it's 5th birthday and the acquisition of its new corporate headquarters for Ireland, located in south county Dublin.
Joining SSE's Irish CEO Ian Marchant at the announcement was Pat Rabbitte TD, Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources.
SSE operates out of approximately 40 locations throughout Ireland, including Red Oak, it's new 8,500 square metre headquarters building at in South County Business Park.
Commenting at the celebrations, Pat Rabbitte TD said:
I am pleased to be here today to celebrate the acquisition of SSE's new corporate headquarters in Ireland. I would like to acknowledge the company's continued commitment to and confidence in the Irish economy. I welcome the fact that SSE has over 1,500 people employed on the island.
Ian Marchant, the outgoing CEO for SSE said:
From small beginnings in 2008 when we acquired the renewable energy business Airtricity, SSE's activities in Ireland have expanded rapidly to offer out customers a broad range of high quality customer services. Five years on our growth translates to €2bn invested in Ireland or just over €1m every day since 2008.
According to a recent report by the Commission for Energy Regulation, at the end of 2012, Airtricity had approximately 365,115 domestic electricity customers and a further 108,054 domestic natural gas customers in Ireland. The company is increasing market share in terms of domestic electricity customers and decreasing market share in domestic gas customers.
The regulator's figures go on to show that Airtricity is the number 2 energy supplier for both domestic electricity and domestic gas, behind Electric Ireland and Bord Gáis Energy respectively.
The company recently reported that it would "bid low" for the acquisition of Bord Gáis Energy, citing a hope that their bid would not be a winning bid for the sake of the Irish taxpayer. The Government is due to complete the disposal of Bord Gáis Energy this year, as instructed by the troika and as part of the bailout process. Bids are due on this Wednesday, June 12th 2013, and the winning bidder is expected to pay in the region of €1.0bn - €1.4bn.
