Mr. John Melvin:

I may have been unclear in the way I described the concept of the least cost technically acceptable offer. It has been designed to reassure developers that the offer received from the transmission system operator or the distribution system operator involves the lowest cost, the shortest route, the smallest technically acceptable wires and the smallest technically acceptable transformers. It is obvious that the quality requirements which are set by international standards for equipment like this have to be met, as do the health and safety and environmental requirements. The concept has been designed to reassure developers that when they get the cost which they may consider too high for their project to bear, the cheapest way to get from this point to that point has been calculated.

The Senator also asked about disconnections.

Where a customer is in debt to an energy supplier, the codes of practice oblige the supplier to offer a payment plan to that customer. My colleagues will correct me if I get any of this wrong. That payment plan will involve the continued supply of electricity or gas while part payments are made under it to pay off the debt. There is a high rate of adherence to payment plans by customers and the rate of disconnections has decreased significantly since some of the policy changes were implemented. Another option for consumers is to move to prepayment meters whereby they can ensure for themselves that they do not get into debt. There are a lot of policies in place to protect consumers who have been in debt or fear they may get into it and, as my colleague mentioned, there is, in essence, a moratorium on disconnection during the winter months.