36% surge in homes cut off by gas suppliers

The number of households disconnected by gas suppliers jumped by 36% in the third quarter of 2012.

Figures published by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) also show almost 64,000 homes had been fitted with pay-as-you-go meters for gas up to Sept 2012, while over 11,000 customers have similar meters for electricity.

The CER figures show 2,479 domestic customers had their gas supply cut off between July and September last year for non-payment of bills — the highest quarterly figure in recent years and a 36% increase on the corresponding period in 2011. In addition, 4,181 households had electricity disconnected in the third quarter of 2012, although it represents a 32% reduction. Over the past two years, gas and electricity prices have risen by about 30% on average with further increases likely later this year.

Overall, 6,572 homes had their gas supply cut off in the first nine months of 2012 — more than the combined total for the previous year (4,560). Similarly, 12,854 households had their electricity supply cut off in the first three quarters of last year on top of almost 17,800 customers disconnected during 2011.

Airtricity has the highest rate of disconnection of any energy supplier, cutting off almost twice as many electricity users per 10,000 customers as their rivals Electric Ireland and Bord Gáis, while there are higher rates of disconnections for gas consumers by all providers, especially Flogas, with the exception of Electric Ireland.

CER chairman Dermot Nolan said up to 30% of disconnections related to vacant premises. He also stressed that energy providers have to follow strict guidelines and procedures, including the issuing of several notices and warnings, before they could disconnect gas and electricity supplies from households.

The CER figures also show that more than 2% of customers looking to switch electricity supplier in the third quarter of 2012 were in arrears with their existing provider. The figure was just over 1% for gas suppliers.

A “debt flagging” system now operates to alert energy providers if prospective customers have an outstanding bill of €250 or more with their existing supplier.