Mr. Jim Gannon:

Without question, absolutely. We indicated to the committee in the midst of the crisis that we did not anticipate that the retail price levels would necessarily reduce to where they had been, given that we are still reliant on gas and we no longer have access to Russian gas and other aspects of the market.

To respond specifically to the Deputy's question, hedging practices are very different across suppliers. Some suppliers have generation, some are focused on the domestic market and some are focused on the retail or commercial markets where the pass-through costs are more closely aligned. There is no single, one-size-fits-all hedging strategy in place among suppliers.

I note that the European Commission recently indicated in policy that it may ask that national authorities - member states, but more likely the regulator - get more involved. It is not precisely clear what that involvement would be.