The ESB’s NIE Networks unit has warned that price controls proposed by the energy regulator in Northern Ireland are cause for “very significant concern” for its directors and will result in a £105 million (€121million) combined revenue and earnings shortfall between 2017 and 2024.

The company – bought for £1.2 billion by the ESB in 2010 – has also warned that the draft pricing decision from the regulator could be detrimental to NIE Networks’ financial position, threaten its credit rating plans, and could have an “adverse impact” on the ESB.