Mr. Tom Gillen:

The rates in Northern Ireland are set by the regulator. The regulator has gone through a process with the main supplier in Northern Ireland, Power NI, and has gone through all its hedges and all its cost and the price it comes out is the cost to domestic customer, which is comparable to the price in the South after these reductions. I can understand that members may think that our profits rise when gas prices drop, that is why we hedge, so I can tell members that we are not making excess profits on the fall in prices.

There are another number of things that impact on cost that are not wholesale related. There is an increase use system cost that was not passed on to the customers and costs about 1%. The Oireachtas passed legislation that puts an energy efficiency obligation on all of us which is quite a significant cost. That also has not been passed on to domestic customers as of yet. We face costs apart from the wholesale price which customers will have to bear to meet the European commitments.

In terms of comparators, we referred to the situation in Northern Ireland and in the EU. From talking to somebody the other day, I learned that the tariff for domestic customers is 30% cheaper in Ireland than in Germany. I was asked why we do not set out our prices. The reason is that the market is competitive and it would be foolish for me to tell member that we would reduce the price here and there because that would be telling our competitors.

We are saying we will be pricing the reductions because if we do not do this, we will lose customers.