CRU publishes additional winter protections to help households manage energy bills and avoid disconnection
Enhanced CRU protections will stay in place, alongside new measures to continue to support celectricity and gas customers.
Households experiencing difficulty with electricity or gas bills will continue to benefit from enhanced customer protection measures published today by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) for the 2026/27 period. The measures will help customers manage energy bills and avoid disconnection as winter approaches.
The measures, which come into immediate effect, maintain enhanced protections for customers and strengthen requirements on suppliers to engage with customers and provide affordable repayment plans and practical support for those customers in arrears.
Since their introduction in 2022, the CRU’s Additional Customer Protection Measures have aimed to protect consumers from the most severe impacts of higher energy costs, while supporting a fair, competitive, and sustainable retail energy market.
The majority of the measures will continue from 2025/26, alongside new commitments on repayment plans and supplier support for customers in difficulty. The key customer protection measures for 2026/27 include:
New and renewed focus for 2026/27 on:
- New for 2026/27 – repayment plans and ability to pay: Repayment plans must reflect what customers can afford, treat upfront payments as optional rather than mandatory, and allow customers at least 18 months to repay their debt.
- New for 2026/27 – supplier support: Suppliers should first seek practical solutions within their own support frameworks before referring customers in difficulty to organisations such as MABS or SVP.
Protections continuing for 2026/27
- Prepayment customer protections: The maximum proportion of a prepayment meter top-up used to recover legacy debt will remain at 15% for the coming winter. Suppliers must also advise prepayment customers in debt about alternative payment options, while the €200 charge for moving from a gas PAYG meter to a credit meter will remain suspended.
- Support for customers in difficulty: Suppliers must place customers with financial hardship meters on their lowest-cost tariff and provide trained staff and dedicated support contacts.
- Vulnerable customer protections: A five-month disconnection moratorium will continue for special services customers, with full protection for critical services customers. Suppliers must promote the vulnerable customer register by SMS/email and on their websites by 4 December 2026.
- Emergency credit on prepayment meters: Emergency credit on prepayment meters remains increased to €20 from the previous €10 level.
- Access to competitive tariffs: Suppliers must publish retention offers and relevant discounts for existing customers, waive termination fees for customers moving from a 24-hour tariff to a smart tariff with the same supplier, and provide at least 30 days’ notice of tariff increases.
The CRU will closely monitor (via the suppliers’ and networks’ reporting obligations) how suppliers implement the 2026/27 measures and support customers in financial difficulty.
Customers having difficulty paying an electricity or gas bill should contact their supplier as soon as possible to discuss available supports and affordable repayment options.
The CRU is now reviewing feedback from its Call for Evidence on Protecting and Supporting Customers Facing Sustained High Energy Prices, with relevant findings set to inform consideration of stronger customer protections for 2027.
Commenting on the publication, Michael Barrett, Acting Director of Customer Policy & Protection, said: “Households experiencing difficulty with energy bills need clear, practical support. While disconnection levels remain low, these measures continue to require suppliers to act early and agree on repayment plans that customers can realistically sustain, helping to prevent these avoidable disconnections. The CRU will continue to closely monitor implementation and continue its work through the National Energy Affordability Taskforce, to help identify practical ways to better support households.”