EXCLUSIVE: A FORMER director of Derry-based electricity supplier Budget Energy is this week to launch a rival firm.
Damian Wilson left the company last August - and has since set up on his own elsewhere in the city.
ClickEnergy NI will officially launch later this week and will increase competition in the domestic market which currently has just four other active suppliers.
The Strand Road-based firm describes itself as "Northern Ireland's newest and friendliest electricity company".
Mr Wilson worked alongside Eleanor McEvoy at Budget Energy for almost four years after joining the company shortly after it was established.
During that time, the firm's success sky rocketed and and now supplies electricity to 17 per cent of key pad customers in the north.
According to files at Companies House, Mr Wilson's appointment as operations director at Budget ended on August 19 last year.
Mr Wilson was previously head of IT at British based fire and emergency firm AssetCo.
ClickEnergy is the second new electricity supplier to be announced this year.
They will join the race to take a bit out of Power NI's dominance of the Northern Ireland market alongside SSE Airtricity, Budget Energy and Electric Ireland.
The market contrasts to Britain which has 81 suppliers.
Earlier this year, another new entrant Open Electric was announced.
The east Belfast-based firm was due to launch in August but its website is still inviting expressions of interest from perspective customers.
Run by Marc Norris, formerly a technical analyst with the System Operator for Northern Ireland (Soni), the company describes itself as "socially aware" and said loyal customers would be rewarded with a share of profits.
It also promised to donate "up to 10 per cent" of profits to charity.
Meanwhile, Cookstown-based Go Power - part of the Lissan Coal Company Group - said it plans to extend its electricity supply business to the domestic market.
