Ms Cathy Mannion:

In the past month I have written to all suppliers and asked them for their policy on deposits and we will be examining them. The Deputy's concern is it stops customers switching because they cannot afford to pay the deposit. We want to increase switching rates so we will examine it. We will come back to the Deputy on this issue when we have finished our work with the suppliers to see what the issue is. We must remember the supplier buys electricity at the wholesale price and is responsible for paying for it as soon as it is taken. Many customers do not get billed until after they have used the electricity so a deposit is required to cover the risk from when the supplier buys the electricity to when the customer pays for it.