It was a bit confusing when we were told that Bord Gais was chosen to run Irish Water – reminding us of that Father Ted episode where the most boring priest in the world was telling FR. Jack how he “runs the gas off the electricity and the electricity off the gas” . Now we would have the gas company running the water!
But – any confusion will soon end because Bord Gais will cease to exist in a few weeks and will be renamed “ERVIA”.
This has to happen because the Bord Gais Energy retail division along with the Bord Gais brand name is being sold to Centrica. More Details Here
So – the main Bord Gais Eireann group will have to change it’s name so that it is no longer associated with “Bord Gais Energy”.
The new name that has been chosen for Bord Gais Eireann is Ervia .
Apparently the name “Ervia” is based on the Irish word “Éire” and the Latin word “via” (meaning road) – and was chosen by staff.
Bord Gais Networks will become “Gas Networks Ireland” (or Gréasán Gáis Éireann)
Ervia will be the parent company of both Irish Water and “Gas Networks Ireland”
The minister for Energy has said that “Ervia will simply be a corporate name. The main interactions with customers and the public will be through Irish Water and Gas Networks Ireland. Therefore, there is no strategy to advertise or market the Ervia name and the costs of rebranding will be kept to a minimum. ”
Still – we know there will need to be a massive exercise to remove any mention of Bord Gais from anything that has not been sold off and replace it with “Gas Networks Ireland”. All the paperwork , signage, websites etc etc. will need changing – which will be a large task and is expected to cost the state several thousands of euro.
The decision was written into law in March 2014 but the name Ervia was decided on back in 2013. The domain name ervia.com was registered by Bord Gais Eireann in November 2013. Ervia.ie was registered in October 2013.
Th exact date of the official name change is to be decided by the government – but it will be on or before teh completion of the sale to Centrica of Bord Gais Energy which is expected to happen around June 2014.
Some people have already started referring to Ervia … Minister Rabitte mentioned the name when talking about the Freedom of Information act recently.
