EFFORTS BY the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) to protect vulnerable electricity and gas customers and to minimise disruption of their supplies during the coming months are a welcome initiative. The agency is required to regulate the natural gas and electricity markets “in the interest of customers”. Too often in the past, lip service was paid to consumer interests. Here, there is a refreshing departure from traditional attitudes.
As the economy slumped and unemployment rose, people experienced financial difficulties. For many, it was the first time they were unable to pay a bill. Some took refuge in denial and hoped the problem would go away. As a result, some 80,000 ESB customers had their electricity supply disconnected in the first seven months of this year. Bord Gais disconnected thousands more. The harshest lesson was that, in order to have gas and electricity supplies restored, hard-pressed customers had to pay both disconnection and reconnection fees.
Representatives of St Vincent de Paul and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service expressed concern that families were being forced to take out loans to pay these fees, causing further financial stress. Now, CER is considering whether the cost of disconnection and reconnection should be split evenly between supplier and customer. This approach, it suggests, would encourage the supplier to engage more actively with the customer in finding alternative solutions to disconnection. It directed that notice of disconnection should be extended from one week to two.
It costs about €200 to disconnect and reconnect an electricity customer. But the fact that, according to the ESB, some 99.9 per cent of customers are reconnected within 24 hours suggests that consumers do not understand the perilous nature of their situation or have not been made so aware. Anything that improves that situation and reduces costs for all concerned should be welcomed. CER has made it clear that if costs are to be split between supplier and customer, it should be done on an emergency basis and will be reviewed after a year.
The December Budget is unlikely to contain good news for hard-pressed families and individuals. Simon, Focus Ireland, St Vincent de Paul and other organisations are doing tremendous work in caring for the homeless and the socially deprived. In that context, it is good to see a statutory agency taking its responsibilities seriously in protecting the interests of consumers generally and the welfare of society.