One in 10 Irish households and businesses are in arrears with electricity and gas bills.
New figures published by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities show 11% of all electricity users and 13% of gas consumers were behind with their payments at the end of 2019.
It equates to more than 376,000 families and small-businesses in arrears, of which almost 170,000 were more than 90 days behind.
At the same time, there were also significant increases in the number of customers who had energy supplies cut off for the non-payment of bills.
A total of 5,008 electricity customers were disconnected during 2019 – an annual increase of 4%.
However, the number of customers who had their gas supply cut off jumped by 40% to 2,024. The figures indicate two out of every 1,000 electricity customers have been disconnected and three in every 1,000 gas users.
The regulator said the number of disconnections could have been higher but for the number of consumers who use “pay as you go” meters.
The CRU has acknowledged that even more people may experience difficulty in paying their utility bills as a result of Covid-19. A temporary moratorium which was put in place on domestic electricity and gas disconnections from March 16 ended on June 29.
The regulator said it was continuing to monitor the market and will take action where appropriate.
It noted that around 9,900 electricity customers and 2,000 gas customers were on payment plans which represented 0.5% and 0.3% respectively of each market.
Given the scale of the number of people and companies in arrears, the CRU said there was scope for more of them to agree a payment plan with their supplier.
The CRU’s Energy and Water Monitoring Report also shows 13.5% of
electricity customers and 17.7% of gas customers switched energy provider during 2019.
