The Commission of Regulation of Utilities (CRU), which has statutory responsibility to ensure security of supply, has the duty to monitor electricity supplies and to take sure measures as it considers necessary to protect the security of supply. It is assisted in its role by EirGrid. The CRU, supported by Eirgrid and my Department, currently has a programme of actions underway to ensure the security of our electricity supply over the coming winters. The people in the situations referred to by the Deputies would appear eligible to be registered as vulnerable customers. A vulnerable customer is defined as a household customer who is critically dependent on electrically powered equipment, which includes, but is not limited to, life protecting devices, assistive technologies to support independent living and medical equipment or who is particularly vulnerable to disconnection during the winter months for reasons of advanced age or physical, sensory, intellectual or mental health. It is important that people who are in such a situation contact their energy supplier to register with them as a vulnerable customer. Their electricity supplier will then notify ESB Networks. ESBN maintains a Vulnerable Customer Register based on the information provided to them by suppliers. Furthermore, the CRU has in place a range of protections against disconnection that are set out in the Supplier Handbook. Vulnerable customers registered as being critically dependent on electrically powered assistive devices cannot be disconnected for reasons of non-payment at any time.
