An energy company has refused to halt plans to cut-off more customers from their gas supplies in the coming weeks.

Isle of Man energy, formerly known as Manx Gas, disconnected the gas supplies of 30 customers last week.

A further 90 are set to be cut-off by the energy supplier by next week, according to Jason Moorehouse, MHK for Arbory, Castletown and Malew.

Mr Moorehouse issued a plea to senior Government figures on Tuesday, urging them to request that Isle of Man Energy pause its disconnection programme due to a ‘number of issues’ about the process raised by customers.

However, within ‘six minutes’ of that request being submitted, Mr Moorhouse claims the company responded, saying it would not stop its plans to disconnect customers who had fallen into arrears.

In correspondence sent to Mr Moorehouse, a representative from Isle of Man Energy said: ‘I am afraid that we have a planned schedule up to the middle of December which we will continue to follow.‘

All customers have been contacted multiple times and given plenty of opportunities to speak to us regarding payment.’

Mr Moorehouse says he has been contacted by a number of Isle of Man Energy customers who have either already been cut-off or are worried about being disconnected from their gas supplies as winter approaches.

Among those who have contacted him are a pregnant woman about to give birth and parents with young children who returned home to find out they had ‘no heating and no warm water’ with ‘simply a note pushed through the door’ telling them that their supply has been switched-off.

Some customers appeared to have a had repayment programmes in place when they were disconnected with ‘no warning’ while others had assumed that the Department of Health and Social Care were making their energy payments on their behalf, according to the MHK.

In the UK, people cannot be disconnected from their gas supplies between October 1 and March 31 if they are considered to be vulnerable.

Vulnerable individuals are deemed to be those living alone at state pension age (67 or older) or those who cohabit with other people who’ve reached state pension age or children under the age of 18.

‘The fundamental concern is that people are being disconnected, with what appears to be inadequate discussions,’ said Mr Moorehouse.

‘I am continuing to support people in this situation and Isle of Man Energy are reviewing the concerns very quickly.

’Mr Moorehouse has been giving permission raise the issues with the Chair of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), John Wannenburgh, in an urgent question in Tynwald next week.

In a statement, a spokesman for Isle of Man Energy said: ‘We are contacting customers who have significant arrears on their account and due to non-payment have built up a high level of debt.

‘We want to ensure that customers do not get into further debt so we have asked them to get in touch and we can talk about ways in which this can be settled over a longer period.

‘If customers do not contact us, we do have the option to disconnect their supply until the outstanding amount has been settled.

‘We encourage customers to get in touch to discuss their circumstances.’