Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

We encourage people to shop around for their utility bills, insurance or whatever it might be, to get the best price. I have been in contact with someone recently who had issues with an energy utility company which I will not name and he claims he was given false information in order to sign a contract. He made a complaint to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. This is where the problem is. The commission has come back to him to say there will be a resolution in 12 months' time. That is not sufficient. The commission is an independent body but it is established under a Government framework. Could we make an inquiry as to why resolutions are taking so long? We want people to shop around but we also want them to get fair treatment. If they feel they are not being treated fairly, they have a right to make a complaint and have it investigated to establish if that is the case, but they should not have to wait 12 months.