Ms Issy Petrie:

We have survey data from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, from last year. There were still high prices so the survey reflected that, to some extent. I cannot remember the numbers off the top of my head but there were very significant levels of self-disconnection for gas and electricity customers. I can send the data on afterwards because we have it in our recent report that self-disconnections had increased significantly during the time of rising prices. This clearly reflected the trend of people simply being unable to top up the meter. The data were based on a small sample size so we would like to see another survey that really delves into the issue and clarifies that a drastic rise is clearly happening.

The survey also looked at the length of time that people were disconnected for. In some instances, people are disconnected for significant lengths of time. It is not just a matter of minutes or hours. This would also reflect what Society of St. Vincent de Paul members see with people having the meter off for days at a time. The issue of self-disconnection comes up very regularly when members are supporting people. We have a concern about prepaying self-disconnection for gas customers due to the limitations on the meters because they use older technology. Ahead of next winter, one of our priorities is to call for a working group to look into prepay meters and to assess what options are available to support gas prepay customers who are facing self-disconnection to get extra credits. They might have a standing charge debt built up on the meter. We want to establish what is possible and what needs to be done ahead of next winter because last winter saw a huge number of self-disconnections.