Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

Yes, there is a perception that the price goes up quickly and takes a while to go down. We regulated prices for a while for a few years before stepping out of the role. While the perception was there, the reality was that we had a single price change every year for Electric Ireland and Bord Gáis and it looked at prices over a 12-month period. While it may have been in people's consciousness that there were price increases, it was a single yearly price increase. Things have changed in the market and we have stepped out of price regulation. For domestic customers, suppliers tend to offer a price that is good for approximately one year. However, they are more free now. It works better in this case because instead of having to wait until September, which is running normally when they reprice for the year ahead, we have seen mid-term price reductions. Electric Ireland reduced prices for electricity in November and other companies are looking at it in March and April. Prices are moving down and it is correct that hedging and a deferral of price decreases means we have not seen them fall as quickly as they fell on the wholesale market. We should continue to see the impact over the next few months. We have been quite clear in signalling that we expect it to be the case, assuming all other things remain equal in the market.

If there are no other dramatic price changes, we will look to see further consideration of price reductions if possible by suppliers, having regard to market conditions in the coming months. We are giving them that message. When taking into account the euro component, the fall in gas price is 18%. The graph displayed earlier by Ms Brien showed the difference between sterling and euro. It showed the changing impact of the exchange rate between the two currencies over time.

The euro-sterling exchange rate has been moving against us over that period and that is having the impact we saw.

In terms of switching, we very much welcome the opportunity to speak to members, all of whom I know have taken a strong interest in this area. The more we get the message out to customers that they should be active and should be looking for best value in what is an increasingly competitive market, the better. I thank members for the opportunity to get that message across today. We accept that sometimes customers may have concerns or may be loyal to their existing supplier but we would still say to them to call their existing supplier to see what better value that supplier may be able to offer them. There are customers who do not switch around but who get the benefits of discounts through direct debit or online billing. There may be other value their supplier can offer. It is a feature of all competitive markets that it is the active customer who is willing to look around who is likely to get the best value. That is the same in the electricity and gas markets.

In terms of the contracts, typically, it is an annual contract of 12 months. We have seen other contracts come in. I think Bord Gáis Energy is offering a fixed contract over two years which is a new offering on the Irish market and which would help customers have certainty over their price for a two-year period. That is an innovation competition has brought. We want to get the balance right between ensuring customers are not caught with long-term contracts which they cannot get out of or the terms of which they are not fully familiar with and allowing competition to drive innovation and better offers for consumers.

We have a role and can look at the type of contracts suppliers offer and the type of communication they have with customers when selling those contracts, which is very important, and ensuring customers are not disadvantaged in any way. That is certainly a role we take very seriously.