Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. As a visitor to the committee I appreciate the time.

Reference was made to one of the CRU's strategic priorities being protecting and empowering customers. I want to focus on this and particularly a very vulnerable group, who I believe are being treated very unfairly. These are the customers who are on prepay meters. The ability of the customer to compare prices and choose to switch does not apply to this group. Equally, in the CRU's own handbook the protections around disconnection do not apply to this group. The prices charged to this group are crazy. The prices are significantly above those paid by anyone who is on a bill, and they are significantly above the prices paid by those who pay by direct debit. Essentially, these users are paying a premium to be on these services. They are often forced to be on those services, whether it is through their own vulnerabilities or through poverty, or because the choice is forced on them by the rental property situation. It is completely out of their hands. If we consider other countries, there have been attempts to regulate the price that prepay users pay, through using social tariffs or through caps to prevent the sort of price gouging we see here.

Earlier today the CRU stated that it sets the rules by which providers compete. The witnesses spoke about the importance of a well-designed market. The price segmentation, and often forced or unavoidable price segmentation and market segmentation by prepaying meters is essentially allowing market failure, which is something that a regulator should be stepping in to act on. What is the CRU guys doing to protect this vulnerable sector of customers?

What research has the CRU done into the cost of the poverty premiums that vulnerable users are forced to pay? There was a question earlier about what levers are available. In the same vein, what levers are available to the CRU to protect and empower these customers? What levers does it need to enable it to protect and empower these customers?