Austerity focus: Householders opting to have power cut off

Householders with large arrears on electricity bills are opting to be dis-connected rather than have pre-paid meters installed.

The chairman of the Commission for Energy Regulation, Dermot Nolan, said he was surprised that threequarters of those in serious arrears were opting to be switched off rather than falling into further debt.

He told the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications that 5,000 residential electricity customers had been disconnected in the first quarter of 2012, and 1,600 customers had their gas supply cut off.