Mr. Paul McGowan:

I will address the issue of the security deposit and Ms Mannion will discuss connection policy. Security deposits are a matter for individual companies. We do not have anything in our guidelines which prohibits security deposits. However, there is a clear process in our guidelines that if somebody feels any aspect of the service they receive is unfair, or makes a complaint to a supplier, and a satisfactory conclusion is not reached, the consumer complains to us. We have a statutory obligation to deal with these complaints and we have powers of arbitration in that we make binding determinations. If we find against the supplier or the network company, the decision is binding on it and this can include compensation or a reversal of a decision. Where somebody facing disconnection has a genuine complaint or dispute, a disconnection would not be carried out until we have dealt with the issue at hand.