McKevitt queries electricity price jumps

SDLP South Down MLA Karen McKevitt said she is seeking a meeting with Power NI to find out why customers paying by direct debit are suddenly finding themselves paying far more for electricity.

Speaking to Newry Times, McKevitt said her constituency office in Warrenpoint has been inundated with visits and calls from people who want to know why their direct debits have suddenly jumped, in some cases tripled.

“Whatever is going on, there is certainly an information gap as far as many customers are concerned and it needs to be addressed. People are now coming in to us talking about getting a ‘pay as you go’ system because they cannot deal with the unexplained proposed massive increases to their direct debit.”

She added, “Electricity supply is highly regulated and a central function left to the distributor is customer relations and billing. I intend meeting with the local manager to find out whether these prices are in order and have been properly handled.

“But even if they are in line with what the regulator approved, that would still leave the issue of why customers are being suddenly surprised with large price jumps and why there is not a better system of customer information and support.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Oct 21 2012. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry