Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

We are aware of the legislation and obviously we work within the legislative framework. In supplying customers, suppliers face charges. Some of those are fixed and some are variable, which one usually sees through the unit charge. At present, our legislation does not allow us to regulate any part of those charges. We do, however, monitor the market and we look for trends which we can convey to customers. The whole thrust of the legislation is that competition is the main means by which we can avoid any one supplier trying to inflate costs. If they do so, they become uncompetitive versus the other suppliers in the market and customers will vote with their feet. We promote competition and switching and we encourage customers to be aware of and to understand their bills so they know if there was an unfair or higher charge and can take action. Those are the main areas we are focused on at present.

Ms Trant might comment on standing charge costs.