Bord Gáis cut off most homes over unpaid bills

Some 805 households had their electricity cut off while 731 lost their gas supply for non-payment of bills, figures for April show.

Bord Gáis disconnected a greater proportion of both domestic gas and electricity customers in April than Electric Ireland and SSE Airtricity. This reverses the situation in March when the energy provider disconnected the smallest proportion of home owners. In total, 805 domestic electricity customers had their power disconnected in April, and 731 domestic gas customers lost their supply for non-payment, according to the latest data released by the Commission for Energy Regulation. The monthly CER report on domestic disconnections for non-payment of accounts comes as homeowners face a 55% rise in the Government’s Public Service Obligation levy which will see annual energy bills increase by an average of €35 a year.

In the first three months of the year, electricity disconnections fell by 41% and gas by 29%, compared with the same period in 2013. However, the regulator warns that the figures for April or March may not be typical as a moratorium introduced at the start of the year ended on February 20.