Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

We point to competition as the best way to drive down prices over time and to produce more innovative offerings for customers. We point to things such as the estimated annual bill calculation, price comparison websites and other supports we have introduced to help customers find the best value in their area. I do not think we have identified any area in particular, such as the one the Deputy mentioned, that warrants additional work at this time.

We have had an engagement between our customer stakeholder group and suppliers to understand the particular issues arising at present due to high prices and to try to address them. One of the areas we are concerned about is around vulnerable customers and whether there is enough awareness among such customers of their rights to be protected from disconnection. That is one area of action we have identified. Typically, we get information through our customer care team and our customer stakeholder group, and we carry out annual customer surveys. We are constantly looking for examples of issues. Is a particular supplier doing something we can follow up through compliance and enforcement to ensure it adheres to the rules? Is it an area where perhaps new rules or guidance is needed? The issue raised by the Deputy has not crossed our desks, but we will take a look at it.