Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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Question 469: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that gas consumers who wish to switch to a prepay payment method for their gas bill have to pay nearly €400 to do this; his views on this significant charge given that many consumers switching to the prepay method are under serious financial pressure and given the long tradition of prepaying for gas by Bord Gáis consumers before many other organisations had introduced a prepay method; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37389/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The primary responsibility for managing energy customer debt resides with the energy suppliers. The use of pre-payment meters facilitates better management by the customer of gas bills and thus reduces the risk of disconnection.

Over the last three years, the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) has been working with the gas industry to make pre-payment meters more accessible for customers who need them. As a result of these efforts pre-payment metering is now technically feasible for all customers irrespective of supplier. While currently only Bord Gáis Energy supplies domestic pre-payment metered customers, both Airtricity and Flogas have committed to the CER that they will set up internal systems to service this section of the domestic market within the next 12 months.

The supply and fitting of domestic pre-payment meters is a service carried out by Bord Gáis Networks (BGN) on behalf of the customer or the supplier. The charges relating to the fitting of such meters are regulated by the CER. This is a fixed charge which is currently set at €373 (including VAT).

It is the case therefore that Local Authorities, on behalf of tenants of local authority housing, and other customers, who wish to install a pre-payment meter are required to pay BGN the above charge for the incremental cost of the meter and its installation. However, I welcome the fact that the CER, in reviewing BGN's five-year revenue review, has allowed for a number of pre-payment meters to be installed under a financial hardship provision. Customers in genuine financial hardship who have been referred by the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) or Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, or whom the supplier considers have genuine difficulty paying bills, can have a pre-payment meter installed at no cost to the customer.

The CER considers that pre-payment meters can be a very useful budgeting tool for customers and are also beneficial to suppliers in reducing the accumulation of debt. However, the CER is mindful of the fact that pre-payment meters are not suitable for all customers, such as the elderly or vulnerable, and that the nature of pre-payment meters is such that there is no way of monitoring the frequency and duration of self-disconnection due to a customer running out of credit.

The key message for customers in genuine difficulty with their bills is to make immediate contact with their supplier and agree a plan before the unpaid bills begin to accumulate thus obviate the risk of disconnection.