Clare McAllister: Heading the Change for Electric Ireland

Clare McAllister doesn’t need to be reminded that the electricity marketplace here in Northern Ireland is a highly competitive one, especially when you consider the size of the customer base.

As Head of Sales & Marketing for Electric Ireland in Northern Ireland, she heads a growing team responsible for both business and domestic sales of electricity, as well as natural gas.

A natural straight talker from the North Coast, Clare talks easily about the achievements ElectricIreland (formerly ESB IndependentEnergy) has chalked up since it first came north in 2000 and the challenges that it still faces.

“We’ve achieved a lot from a standing start in the NorthernIreland market,” she says.“Electric Ireland has built up a strong presence in the business marketplace, and we’re now busy challenging for customers in the domestic space....and that has brought great opportunity as well as a new set of challenges and a whole new set of targets.”

The move into the keenly contested domestic energy space means that Electric Ireland is growing. It’s current offices inBelfast’s Gasworks are already bursting at the seams, and expansion plans are well underway as the company prepares to set up a customer contact centre in Belfast.

“There’s no doubt that customers like to talk to people on the ground who have expert knowledge of the Northern Ireland market, hence our investment in a fully-fledged contact centre here in Belfast,” adds Clare.

But local consumers have another idiosyncrasy. “People in NorthernIreland aren’t so keen on the idea of switching supplier. They tend to stick with one supplier and don’t like to rock the boat,”she adds. “, that’s one habit that we’re working hard to change.”

Owned by ESB, Ireland’s largest energy company, Electric Ireland ranks as a major player in NorthernIreland, not only by virtue of its growing market share across business and domestic fronts, but because it’s part of the Group which owns NIE Networks, the electricity transmission and distribution network and one of NI’s three main power stations, the plant at Coolkeeragh outside L/Derry.

“We’ve been hitting 65% brand awareness. That’s something we’ve worked hard to achieve and we’re very happy with,” says Clare McAllister.

The company has been busy investing in the Northern Ireland community to help boost that all-important brand awareness. It’s a sponsor of the GAA U17s Championship but has also taken the bold decision to become the lead sponsor of women’s’ football here, from the grassroots up.

“Sales are going very well for us,” she says. “We first entered the residential marketplace two and a half years ago, and we’re pleased with the progress that we’ve made in a market that doesn’t embrace switching to any great degree.

“On the back of that progress in residential sales, we’re also stepping up our presence in the small business space in Northern Ireland.”

Small business sales are a relatively new discipline for an Electric Ireland Belfast team that cut its teeth winning sales in the high-volume corporate end of the market, a sector which includes some of Northern Ireland’s largest energy-consuming manufacturers. At that end of the scale, Electric Ireland’s leading customers include LacPatrick, one of our largest dairy processing operations.

Winning customers like LacPatrick further builds our reputation and helps to grow our customer base in specific sectors that are key drivers within the Northern Ireland, such as milk processors and dairy farmers.... energy users in their own right.

Moving on small business, Electric Ireland now has a dedicated SME sales team marketing both electricity and gas to a wide range of business users.

“The farming and agri-food sectors have been good for us,” Clare McAllister reckons. “It is a very competitive marketplace, but then what marketplace these days isn’t competitive?”

She says that Electric Ireland is working hard to make it easier for SME customers to understand more about their electricity supply and how the billing works. It’s SME Premium Insights tool delivers personalised insights enabling customers to monitor, analyse and optimise their energy use.

Electric Ireland bids for market share in a Northern Ireland business and residential marketplace also populated by Power NI, part of the Viridian Group, by SSE Airtricity and by Budget Energy.

“So we’ve got a full complement of players on the field, and against that, there isn’t a lot of margin to be made in the supply of electricity,” says Clare McAllister. That’s not to mention a complex natural gas marketplace, currently split into three separate grids.

Electric Ireland has fostered close links with organisations including Retail NI, the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and NI Hotel Federation to spread the word among specific customer sectors. “It’s an approach that we have to take. This market might be a small one....but it’s a sophisticated one. Customers expect us to know about their businesses, and that’s how it should be.”

Electric Ireland has a staff of 28 in Belfast, a total which rises considerably when you consider the 70-strong team of field agents currently knocking on residential doors around Greater Belfast to encourage more residents to make the switch from their existing supplier.

“We are investing in marketing and advertising and that is something we will continue to do to build our brand and increase its recognition.”

Looking to the future, Clare McAllister can’t avoid mentioning Brexit and the unknown challenges that it might bring. As an allisland company operating in both jurisdictions, Electric Ireland could face some wide-ranging challenges.

The future security of energy supply is hugely important for Northern Ireland and the future of the market’s structure is set to change with the Integrated Single Electricity Market which has now been delayed until October.

“As a business we invested significantly to ensure that we have the capability to support and serve our customers in industries across Northern Ireland as we’ve done for 18 years. The energy market has seen many changes over the last 10 years and throughout that time we have provided our customers with the innovation and expertise to bring tangible benefits to their businesses.

“While these are uncertain times for Northern Ireland plc there are many opportunities for us to further develop our business and we are well placed to increase our share and to help our customers and the local economy evolve and grow.”