ESB has been granted permission to rebrand its energy supply business as Electric Ireland.
The change of name was one of a number of conditions set out by the Commission for Energy Regulation when ESB sought permission to set its own prices and compete in the domestic electricity market.
The new brand will replace ESB Customer Supply and ESB Independent Energy, which supply electricity to residential and business markets, but ESB Networks and ESB International will retain their current identity.
The new branding will appear alongside the existing ESB logo on bills and letters sent from next April. The ESB logo will disappear from such communications at the start of 2012.
A spokesman for ESB said it would introduce the new brand in a cost effective and practical manner and that there would be no impact on customer bills.
He said the ESB would spend some €6 million to €8 million implementing the name change and on sales and marketing of Electric Ireland next year.
Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan welcomed the rebranding announcement and said the company had assured him the costs associated with it will not impact on electricity prices.
“This is all in the name of bringing prices down”, said Mr Ryan. “Rebranding is a necessary condition of deregulating the domestic supply market. We can see that existing competition has brought about price wars between electricity suppliers as they compete for business."
