THE ENERGY regulator has promised further measures to help thousands of consumers whose electricity or gas has been cut off because of financial difficulties.
However, Commissioner for Energy Regulation Michael Tutty rejected any blanket withdrawal of the charges for disconnecting energy customers.
Disconnection of electricity incurs a charge of €86 plus VAT, while a customer seeking reconnection must pay €88 in addition to clearing any arrears. The charge for disconnecting or reconnecting gas supply is €61.74.
Members of the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources yesterday pressed Mr Tutty to do more to help gas and electricity customers struggling to pay their bills. Some pointed out that Northern Ireland operates a “no disconnection” policy.
Mr Tutty had earlier told the committee that electricity disconnections were running at about 2,000 a month. More than 4,000 gas customers have been disconnected so far this year, compared to 5,354 last year.
Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins said there were now 40 times as many people seriously behind in paying their bills – ie, with arrears of over 120 days – than there were at the start of 2009. In contrast to the 1980s, those in difficulty were as likely to be in middle-class neighbourhoods as more disadvantaged areas.
Some 100,000 customers were now “slow” in paying gas bills. Of these, 26,000 were over €500 in arrears and 20,000 were nearing the stage where they could be disconnected.
Bord Gáis is setting up a new call centre in Clonakilty, employing 40 people, solely to deal with customers’ debt issues.
The meeting heard that the ESB has incurred bad debts of €20 million so far this year while Bord Gáis has made provision for €26 million as a result of the growing number of customers facing difficulties paying their bills.
Mr Tutty said electricity and gas suppliers were obliged to operate a code of practice on disconnection and to use it only as a last resort. Concerned about the rise in disconnections, he said his officials were engaging with the utilities to see what could be done.
He said 22,000 “budget controller units” had been installed in households having difficulties paying bills and another 17,500 had been approved for electricity customers. But he was reluctant to incur extra costs by rolling out prepayment meters when “smart metering” was in the offing.
Mr Tutty acknowledged that Northern Ireland operated a policy of zero disconnection, but said this didn’t mean supply was maintained where people were not paying. There, the utilities installed prepayment meters where bills were not being met and the cost of servicing these paid for the energy as well as offsetting the accrued arrears. He said the main reason electricity prices were cheaper in the North was because VAT was lower there.
Mr Mullins said it didn’t make sense to charge the customer the €373 cost of installing a prepayment meter; he suggested this cost should be “socialised” by sharing the cost more widely.