Ms Laura Brien:

Many of the larger industrial customers are on wholesale pass through tariffs which means they get the immediate benefit of any drop in the wholesale electricity price. They are already enjoying that. The wholesale electricity price is approximately 12% lower than where it was over the previous year. Those large industrial customers are already seeing a direct reduction in their bills as a result of that. Small and medium-sized enterprises and domestic customers tend to be covered through the supplier hedging because they expect to get a fixed price for the year so that they know their prices will not change during the year. That is why they enjoy but also suffer from the benefits of hedging.

In regard to the reduction in the gas price and how that would feed through into end retail prices, as we explained, the international price of gas probably covers approximately 30% of the cost of electricity so 30% of that 18% is 6%. Ultimately over time, we would be looking at a reduction in the retail price of 6% or so. We have seen a 2% to 3% reduction already. However, once the impact of that hedging continues to feed through and assuming there is no change in the market conditions, there is potential for a corresponding or approximately the same level of reduction in the future to account for the impact of hedging.