Surprise at sharp rise in numbers of gas cut-offs

The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) has expressed surprise at a sharp rise in the number of gas disconnections carried out in 2012.

CER chairman Dermot Nolan revealed the number of households disconnected for non-payment of bills had trebled in the first six months of 2012.

He told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee 4,090 consumers had been disconnected from the gas supply in the first half of last year — just less than the entire number of householders cut off in all of 2011.