Ervia

Bord Gáis Éireann was established as a semi-state company by the Irish government in 1975 to replace a series of private-sector small city-based gas companies, some of whom had got into financial trouble. The company was originally established as a private limited company by shares, Bord Gáis Éireann Teoranta, before being converted to a statutory corporation under the Gas Act 1976, the primary legislation under which BGE operates.

The oldest of the small private companies was the Dublin Gas Company, formally known as the Alliance and Dublin Consumers' Gas Company. The Alliance and Dublin Consumers Gas Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. xlii) had created the company by merging the Alliance Gas Company, and the Dublin Consumers Gas Company, which had been formed in 1844 by a group of prominent citizens chaired by Daniel O'Connell, a prominent Irish politician and Lord Mayor of Dublin. The Alliance and Dublin Gas Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. ccv) merged the Commercial Gas Company of Ireland into the Alliance and Dublin Consumer's Gas Company. After initially supplying the company (known simply as Dublin Gas by the 1980s) with wholesale natural gas, Bord Gáis acquired the assets of the company when it went into receivership in 1987, including its landmark art deco head office, Dublin Gas Company Building in D'Olier Street. Other town gas companies were acquired by Bord Gáis in Cork, Limerick, Clonmel, and Kilkenny.

Existing gas suppliers acquired included the Cork Gas Company (in 1985) and the Kilkenny Gas Company, Clonmel Corporation Gasworks and Limerick Corporation Gasworks (all in 1986). The Dublin Gas Company was acquired in 1987.

In 2002, Bord Gáis Éireann sold the Dublin Gas Company Building to Trinity College Dublin and moved to purpose-built premises in Foley Street, Dublin, which is now the main offices of Bord Gáis Energy. Bord Gáis now have offices at Lower Mount Street, Dublin.

For nearly two decades the main supply of gas available for Bord Gáis came from the Kinsale Head gas field, an offshore field discovered in 1971. Owned by Marathon Petroleum, it was worked from 1978 to 2020, the gas coming ashore at Inch, County Cork.

Deregulation of the Irish gas market

Beginning in the early 2000s Ireland's state owned public utilities underwent major reform thanks to the adoption by EU members of the European Union's Third Energy Package. This required vertically integrated utilities such as Bord Gáis Éireann to legally demarcate and split into two roles: the Transmission System Operator (TSO) and the Distribution System Operator (DSO) although a combined DSO/TSO was permissible as long as the two were ring-fenced from one another This resulted in two new "arms length" entities being created inside the Bord Gáis group; Bord Gáis Networks and Bord Gáis Energy Supply. A similar situation took place with the Electricity Supply Board with it being split into two main units, legally distinct and separate; ESB Networks and ESB Customer Supply, now called Electric Ireland, although both being owned by the ESB Group.

On 18 February 2009 Bord Gáis Energy Supply rebranded as Bord Gáis Energy and competed in a new, fully deregulated gas market, legally separate and distinct from the rest of Bord Gáis Éireann. As part of the overall opening up of the energy market in Ireland as a whole Bord Gáis Energy entered the deregulated electricity market offering dual fuel bundles to consumers. Other companies including Airtricity and Electric Ireland also began competing with Bord Gáis Energy in the gas sector, with Bord Gáis Networks being impartial towards all companies who wished to utilise the gas network. It was expected BGE would be no different than any other gas provider.

Sale of Bord Gáis Energy

A condition of the EU/IMF bailout programme for Ireland required the Irish government to sell off some state owned assets to help pay down loans and reduce Ireland's debt burden. In February 2012 the Irish government announced it would sell Bord Gáis Energy as required under the bailout terms.

Subsidiaries

Gas Networks Ireland

Gas Networks Ireland (Irish: Líonraí Gáis Éireann) owns, and is responsible for the operation, maintenance and development of Ireland's natural gas transmission and distribution networks, consisting of over 14,600 km of pipeline. The network provides gas to customers in all major Irish cities, along with several towns across the country. Numerous suppliers provide gas services to customers and businesses via this network of pipelines.

Two interconnectors link the pipeline network to Scotland (with a spur from one of the interconnectors linking to the Isle of Man supplying the Manx Utilities Authority).

Most of its modern gas supply is imported, though a new gas field known as the Corrib field off the County Mayo coast came on stream in 2015. However, Ervia only purchases a small amount of the offtake; the majority is traded on the Intercontinental Exchange.

Aurora Telecom

Aurora Telecom specialises in providing dark fibre services to the private sector. Due to being a subsidiary company of Gas Networks Ireland, Aurora Telecom is able to utilise the former's extensive gas pipeline network to lay fibre optic lines, principally in Dublin, though with an owned and operated network now stretching from the capital to Cork, Limerick and Galway via several towns including Athlone, Mullingar and Ennis.