Electricity companies said extending the winter moratorium on cutting off people's power supply would lead to increased debts for customers and store up even bigger problems for next year.
In correspondence with the energy regulator, several power companies said threats of disconnection were the only ways in which some indebted customers ever dealt with them.
Bord Gáis Energy told the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) that they were not in favour of ever disconnecting customers and never cut off "any engaging customer".
However, they said extending a moratorium might not help people who were already significantly behind on their energy bills.
A letter from them said: "The disconnection process is the point at which we get most engagement by customers in debt".
"Taking away that process for a longer period of time will not help customers better manage their debt, it will only act to increase the debt they have at the point of engagement," the letter added.
The letters were sent in July as the CRU considered new measures to help customers struggling with energy bills including an extended ban on cutting off power from 1 December to 28 February.
Bord Gáis Energy also said they would never disconnect anybody on their "vulnerable customer list".
The company also warned the winter ahead was likely to be "unprecedented" and they would do everything they could to help customers in need.
In a letter to the regulator, Panda Energy said that extending the winter moratorium might only "exacerbate" the problem it was trying to fix.
They said "unfortunately the disconnection process can in some occasions be required to instigate engagement with a customer".
Panda said cutting off somebody’s power would only ever be used as a "last resort" but that an extended moratorium would do "little to incentivise customer engagement".
"Moratoriums on disconnections give customers the impression they won’t be cut off and do not have to engage," Panda wrote.
"We would not be supportive of this measure. A strong communications programme from the regulator highlighting the importance of engagement would be a more practical solution," it added.
Flogas also raised concerns about extending the winter moratorium saying it would have limited impact on reducing disconnections or increasing customer engagement.
The company wrote: "It [disconnection] is only ever undertaken by fully trained staff as a last resort".
Flogas said delaying even the threat of cutting off power would leave customers in "increasing levels of debt" that would escalate over the winter period.
A letter said: "Amending the Christmas moratorium to a period of three months is excessive and could create a risk of increased arrears if there is a change in process for a sustained period of time."
They said a better option would be to identify customers that needed support, and raise awareness of what help was available, rather than "deviation from the existing disconnection process".
The Electricity Association of Ireland also warned there were risks attached to extending the moratorium with "debt build up that could otherwise be avoided".
SSE Airtricity said that a moratorium extension did nothing "meaningfully" to help a customer struggling with bills.
They said that based on their considerable experience, it was the final opportunity to act that worked as a "stimulus" for customers to come up with a repayment plan.
"In a circumstance where a moratorium is applied then the customer's debt position will only worsen over a high consumption period, thereby leading to likely less engagement in the spring and in turn exacerbating an already difficult position," SSE's letter stated.
Electric Ireland however, the state's biggest residential supplier, said they supported extending the moratorium and only sought clarity on whether it would also apply to non-domestic customers.
Asked about the records that were released under FOI, the Commission for Regulation of the Utilities said they had nothing further to add to their contents.
Reporting by Ken Foxe
