Mr. Jim Dollard:

Yes. A significant portion of the people who are benefiting from discounts at the moment are existing customers. It is not just about that though. I would argue that the loyalty issue is a bigger issue. Some people do not want to sign up for a contract. They do not want to commit to particular conditions; they are not in a position to do so. I believe those customers have to be dealt with as well. In Electric Ireland we are building up loyalty schemes and last winter we gave back a lot of money to customers in that regard.

In terms of existing customers we are concerned with how vulnerable customers are treated. A significant portion of our current customers, probably 50,000, are on pre-pay meters. Those customers are getting a discount from us. We are treating them favourably. We are giving existing customers a 4% discount, which is very important in the market. Those customers have been with us for a very long time, and probably, in reality, cannot easily switch providers and what we are trying to do is to help them in their current situation.

Last autumn Electric Ireland announced a 3% price reduction for SMEs, so slightly ahead of residential customers. SMEs are probably one of the biggest drivers of employment in the economy. Electric Ireland believes that working with SMEs is important. Some SMEs can avail of some of the hedging products that big customers can avail of. They certainly can switch and they certainly are getting discounts. There is no doubt that the bigger the customer the more fuel is an issue in terms of their overall bill and they are more likely to be able to take risk in a market, which allows them to win and to lose. Once they take risk in a market, which big customers can do, they can win and lose.