ALMOST 2,500 households a month – some 80 a day – are having their electricity disconnected after failing to pay their bills.
The number of disconnections of ESB, Bord Gáis and Airtricity customers has more than doubled in the four months to July, according to new figures from the Commission for Energy Regulation.
The commission yesterday confirmed that electricity prices would rise 4.9 per cent from next month to pay for the public service obligation (PSO) levy introduced by the Government to support home-produced and renewable energy sources. Aside from the levy, the price of domestic electricity will remain unchanged.
The overall increase confirmed yesterday was criticised at a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs. Its members accused the regulator of losing touch with the needs of hard-pressed consumers.
Wicklow Independent TD Joe Behan said most people were appalled at the rise in electricity tariffs. “There is widespread and deeply-held anger among householders and business people who cannot understand that an organ of State can conspire to increase charges when we are living through the worst recession in living memory.”
Mr Behan said consumers were caught in a Catch 22 situation; when energy prices rose they paid more, but when energy prices fell the PSO levy went up. He called on the regulator to postpone the increase.
Commission chairman Michael Tutty said the levy was the result of Government legislation and contacts with the energy industry and it had “no control” over the charge. The levy would raise €157 million, and cost each consumer €2.73 extra per month.
Mr Tutty told the meeting that 10,678 customers have had their electricity disconnected so far this year, more than in the whole of 2009. Some 3,722 customers of the three gas suppliers have been disconnected, also up on last year.
Some 2,353 customers were disconnected last July, compared to 800-900 a month last year.
The number of disconnection visits made by ESB Networks staff soared to 4,583 in July, compared to under 2,000 a month late last year, but about half of these visits did not result in disconnection because the bill was settled, a new tenant was in place or access was refused. Each visit, whether disconnection takes place or not, incurs a charge of €86. This and a reconnection charge of €88 must be paid before power is restored.
The fact that a significant proportion of disconnections were not subsequently reconnected showed that the premises were vacant, Mr Tutty said.
Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd said there was no excuse for cutting people off when pay-as-you-go meters could be installed as an alternative.
Mr Tutty said the commission could not force energy suppliers to install pay-as-you-go meters, or consumers to use them. He said disconnection was used as a last resort where bills had not been paid, and was never used in the case of elderly customers or customers on life-support equipment.
He said over 680,000 customers have changed their electricity supplier since the market was liberalised.