Delivering natural gas connections for a sustainable Northern Ireland
2025 was an important and transformative year for our business with the launch of our new name in September 2025. For the last 20 years, we have operated as a gas network under the firmus energy name, however, subsequent to the sale of our retail business (firmus energy Supply Limited), we rebranded the networks business to Kinecx Energy.
2025: The dawn of a new era
We are immensely proud of our modern and reliable gas network that arcs from Derry in the northwest of Northern Ireland to Newry in the southeast. Our dedicated staff and contractors work 24/7 to ensure that our network is delivering energy reliably, and anything requiring our attention is responded to within minutes, not hours. This ensures we can maintain an extremely high level of service for our customers, reinforcing our new strapline: ‘Constant, Convenient, Comfort’.
Our pipes may be buried underground and go unseen but do not underestimate the resilience of the gas network and its ability to withstand extreme weather conditions. The wind may huff and puff, but it cannot blow our pipes down.
The networks business has grown steadily over the last two decades. Today, our gas grid extends to 2,200km of mains, passing 200,000 homes and businesses, and delivering natural gas to over 75,000 connected customers. But our work is far from done.
2026: Ambition in action
Having rebranded at the end of 2025, our key focus at the start of 2026 is building our new brand and ensuring our target audience knows who we are and what we do.
Through our marketing campaigns and community outreach we aim to increase awareness of our name and services across all residents in the key towns we serve, including Derry, Limavady, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine, Newry, Craigavon, Antrim, Banbridge, and Armagh. For those residents thinking of upgrading to natural gas, we need them to instantly think of Kinecx Energy and call our team on 0330 2367 090 or visit our website at www.kinecxenergy.co.uk
We have 125,000 homes and businesses with gas on their doorstep that have yet to realise the many benefits of natural gas, benefits already being enjoyed by our 75,000 connected customers.
Two-thirds of homes in Northern Ireland use home heating oil for heating. Upgrading to natural gas not only brings the advantages of constant supply, instant heat, space savings, multiple uses (cooking, gas fires, barbeques, etc) and increased property value, but also the high efficiency of modern gas boilers and lower carbon emissions means that switching from oil can save up to 48 per cent in carbon emissions.
Connections continue to be our number one focus and connecting to our network remains one of the most effective, low-regret choices customers can make to support Northern Ireland’s transition to a cleaner, future-focussed energy landscape.
Modern infrastructure, sustainable solutions
In 2026, the natural gas industry in Northern Ireland will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. Compared to other jurisdictions, Northern Ireland is therefore in a relatively unique position, in that its gas network is very modern, constructed almost entirely of new polyethylene (PE) plastic pipes and virtually free of cast iron mains.
With over £1 billion invested in the network, it makes economic sense to maximise the use of this infrastructure and capitalise on the opportunities that it can bring.
As previously noted, households can save up to 48 per cent in carbon emissions by switching from oil to gas and this saving can be improved even further by displacing the natural gas in the pipes with renewables gases.
Biomethane is a renewable gas, produced locally from the anaerobic digestion of organic matter, such as food waste, animal manure agricultural crops, and landfill waste.
“As Kinecx Energy, we bring forward our experience, our commitment to excellent service, and our belief in a cleaner energy future for Northern Ireland.”
The introduction of biomethane into our network offers a clear and credible pathway to decarbonise our existing infrastructure. As a renewable gas that is chemically identical to natural gas, biomethane offers unique advantages: it can be transported through our existing pipelines and used in homes and businesses without any changes to appliances or infrastructure.
In 2024, the distribution network operators in Northern Ireland conducted a request for information which quantified the potential for biomethane to displace natural gas within Northern Ireland’s gas grid. For Kinecx Energy, this potential was shown to be 100 per cent of today’s demand.
Work is ongoing with the Department for the Economy (DfE), the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), the Utility Regulator and gas network operators to explore and maximise the opportunities for developing the biomethane sector in Northern Ireland.
People, community, and progress
We are proud of the successful business we have built over the last 20 years, and as Kinecx Energy, we may have changed our name, but we will not be changing the strong values and levels of service upon which that success has been achieved.
With over 65 staff, based locally in Antrim, our people, and the communities that we serve are vital to our historical and future success. We continue to invest in learning and development for our staff and support the future of the industry through our groundbreaking Engineering Scholarship Programme with Ulster University’s Derry~Londonderry campus.
Community engagement remains at the heart of everything we do, and we will continue to support local environmental initiatives and community projects, run educational programmes in schools focussing on energy efficiency and conservation and partner with local charities focused on fuel poverty and environmental causes.
After 20 years of growth and evolution, we are now opening a new chapter. As Kinecx Energy, we bring forward our experience, our commitment to excellent service, and our belief in a cleaner energy future for Northern Ireland. We are excited about what comes next, and we look forward to collaborating with our customers and stakeholders to deliver it.
T: 0330 2367 090
W: www.kinecxenergy.co.uk
