Northern Ireland Electricity has been severely criticised for disconnecting 12 times as many customers as the UK average.

A report from the electricity regulator said the size of the difference over the last year was not acceptable.

The Office for the Regulation of Electricity and Gas - OFREG - said that although there had been a 55 per cent reduction in disconnections in 1995/96 - it still amounted to 38 per 100,000 compared with the average of three for Britain.

Today is the deadline by which NIE must respond to the regulator's request that it reduce tariffs by 31 per cent from next April. Page 2