TWO senior figures at the System Operator for Northern Ireland (Soni), the company that looks after the north's power grid, have had their directorships terminated.
Earlier this month Soni's parent company EirGrid in Dublin announced plans for a new organisational structure which it said would enable continued improvement in the delivery of it strategic goals.
It said the new organisation was designed to "continue building a company which engages strongly with external stakeholders, customers, and communities in which we operate" and also simplified the executive team's responsibilities, reducing its directors from 10 to just six.
It emerged yesterday that experienced Soni directors Andrew Cooke and Michael Walsh have had their appointments terminated, effective from July 16.
But on the same date Dubliner John Fitzgerald (45), director of grid development at EirGrid, was formally appointed to the Soni board in Belfast.
It comes as most recent financial figures filed at Companies House revealed that Soni went from a profit of £12.6 million in 2013 to a loss of £26,000.
EirGrid Group chief executive Fintan Slye said: “We've made strong progress over the past year working to ensure we earn customers’ and communities’ trust and respect and I'm confident this new operational structure will continue this work.
"It will build a sustainable organisation for the future which Ireland, and Northern Ireland, can rely on to deliver the highest quality electricity grid for continued economic growth.”
Soni, which is responsible for the design and planning of the grid that was previously under the remit of Northern Ireland Electricity, moved into new premises on Belfast's Castlereagh Road earlier this year, which houses its 120 full-time employees.
But in March it and other energy organisations came under fire from the then-Enterprise minister Arlene Foster, who said she was "fed up" with problems connecting to the electricity grid with nobody taking responsibility for the issue.
Speaking in the Assembly, she said: "To be quite blunt, I am fed up with this merry-go-round that is going on in relation to grid connection.
"We have NIE saying that it is not their issue, it is a Soni issue. Soni will say it is a regulator issue. The regulator will try and pass it to somebody else. Frankly, it cannot go on."
Meanwhile a joint planning application on the long-delayed electricity inter-connector across the Irish border - a scheme expected to cost around £250 million - is being formally lodged in Dublin and Belfast.
EirGrid is submitting the application for the southern half of the project - which links Woodland in Co Meath and Turleenan in Co Tyrone - while in the north the lead is being taken by Soni, and a separate planning application is before the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC).
