Ms Cathy Mannion:

We have required that suppliers come up with very flexible payment arrangements based on the consumers' ability to pay, not about the suppliers' desire to get money back in a timely manner. We have put some rules on the market whereby every time a customer who has taken a pay-as-you-go meter buys a top-up, a certain proportion of that goes to pay off the debt and the remainder goes towards the electricity the customer will use. We have put in place very strict rules whereby suppliers have to contact the customer a certain number of times by telephone, e-mail or letter before they can discuss disconnection. We audit the suppliers in terms of how they perform and so far they have outperformed against the rules we have put in place. We are working with them on that to see what further rules can be developed.