Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 17 January 2013

Public Accounts Committee

Commission for Aviation Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Communications Regulation - Financial Statement 2011
Commission for Energy Regulation - Financial Statement 2011

11:55 am

Mr. Dermot Nolan:

I only have overall figures. I will provide further figures by company. We have those in our report but I did not bring the specific figures today. I will comment on my recollection of them if that is okay. In 2011, for instance, it varies by quarter. There were 2,500 electricity disconnections in the first; 3,500 in the second; it peaked at 5,000 in the third; and 3,200 in the fourth. Last year, the number in the first quarter was 4,170 and it was 2,960 in the second quarter. We have not published further figures but we are due to publish something in the next few weeks.

In the gas market, there were 519 disconnections in the first quarter of 2011; 1,149 in the second; 727 in the third; and approximately 840 in the final quarter. It went to 1,717 and then 2,373 in the first two quarters of 2012. There has, therefore, been a significant increase in gas disconnections over the recent period.