Ervia, previously known as Bord Gáis or Bord Gáis Éireann, is a multi-utility company distributing pipeline natural gas, water services and dark fibre services in Ireland. The state-owned company has built an extensive network across Ireland.In 2014 the Bord Gáis Energy division was sold to a consortium led by Centrica, and the Bord Gáis name was transferred as part of the sale. Bord Gáis Éireann was therefore renamed Ervia in June 2014 and as a result no longer sells gas directly to customers. Ervia is the parent company of Ireland's largest utility company, Irish Water along with dark fibre operator Aurora Telecom.HistoryBord Gáis Éireann was established as a semi-state company by the Irish government in 1975 to replace a series of private-sector small city-based gas companies, some of whom had got into financial trouble. The company was originally established as a private limited company by shares, Bord Gáis Éireann Teoranta, before being converted to a statutory corporation under the Gas Act 1976, the primary legislation under which BGE operates.The oldest of the small private companies was the Alliance and Dublin Consumers' Gas Company, which had been founded in the early nineteenth century by Daniel O'Connell, a prominent Irish politician and Lord Mayor of Dublin. After initially supplying the company (known simply as Dublin Gas by the 1980s) with wholesale natural gas, Bord Gáis acquired the assets of the company when it went into receivership in 1987, including its head office in D'Olier Street, Dublin. Other town gas companies were acquired by Bord Gáis in Cork, Limerick, Clonmel, and Kilkenny.