John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 436: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, in view of the difficulty many customers are having budgeting to afford household bills, if he will engage the ESB and Bord Gáis to request that they provide free pay-as-you-go meters to customers who are in danger of falling into arrears on their bills; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22390/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I have no statutory function in the setting of energy prices, whether in the regulated or non-regulated market. Price setting by Bord Gáis, ESB Electric Ireland and Airtricity in the electricity market is a commercial matter for the companies. Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets is a matter for the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which is an independent statutory body.

In line with the CER's code of practice on disconnection, electricity and gas suppliers must facilitate payment options/plans for domestic customers experiencing genuine financial hardship and, where appropriate, engage with a money advisor acting on behalf of the customer such as MABS or a recognised charity. This must include offering the customer a prepayment meter or budget controller (for electricity) if this is possible.

Over the past three years the CER has been working with the gas industry to make prepayment meters (PPM) more accessible for customers who need them. To assist customers though their financial difficulties, a full prepayment metering solution has been rolled out. The gas market systems are established so that eventually all domestic suppliers can provide prepayment metering, with the intention that all Prepayment customers would be able to change supplier seamlessly if they so wished.

Currently Bord Gáis Energy (which has 525,000 out of the 621,000 residential customers) is the only supplier providing Pre Payment Meters. However, Flogas and Airtricity, which also supply the residential market, have committed to the CER to putting internal systems in place to underpin Pre Payment Meters services.

The CER has been working with electricity suppliers over the past number of years on the provision of prepayment meters or budget controllers (an older technology) to customers. Budget controllers are in themselves not meters but a budget management device that is installed in addition to the customer's meter. To date, only ESB Electric Ireland has installed budget controller units for customers. However, PrePayPower.ie is currently offering prepayment meters directly to customers.

The CER is currently developing with industry a more modern prepayment 'keypad' solution to budget controllers, which will be available to customers of all suppliers in financial hardship. It will be similar to the Keypad meter currently offered in Northern Ireland. The first 20k of these Keypad meters will become available from this winter, with 100k planned to be available by the end of 2012. They will be made available only to those in financial hardship and in those cases the cost of the meter and its installation will be free of charge.