THE Utility Regulator has proposed capping the amount of revenue Firmus Energy's distribution wing can make.
It comes as the company posted a 44 per cent jump in revenue to £22.9m last year.
Firmus currently operates under a price cap and is set allowed tariffs by the regulator.
Following a consultation, the watchdog said it had "decided that it approves the principle of changing Firmus from a price cap to a revenue cap form of control".
"The capping of tariffs rather than revenue is more appropriate for a company in the early stage of its development as it provides strong incentives to increase volumes and to develop the gas industry," it said.
It is a similar basis under which Phoenix Natural Gas operated in its first 10 years in the north before being changed to a cap on revenues in 2007.
However, Firmus argued the move by the regulator was premature.
It is still in the process of laying pipes around the so-called Ten Towns area which it is currently extending to the Moy and Benburb areas.
In its response to the consultation, Firmus said it had "concerns as to whether now is the right time to implement the move to a revenue cap".
"We do not believe that the move from a price cap to a revenue cap should be determined solely by the passage of an arbitrary length of time since the granting of our licence," it said.
"Instead, the UR should also consider the maturity of the network in light of the scale and type of opportunities that exist for further network development.
"For example, when PNGL was transitioned to a revenue cap from January 2007, much of its infill network mains had been completed and it already had 100,000 customers.
"By contrast, Firmus Energy’s current level of 25,000 connections represents a small proportion of the approximately 230,000 households in our Towns Development Area."
