Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) has called for a ban on forced prepayment meter installations. This follows reports of suppliers using warrants to forcibly install prepayment meters in customers’ homes.
Peter Smith, director of policy at NEA, said: “Sadly, today’s news about forced prepayment installations is another chilling insight into why a ban is needed. There now appears to be widespread evidence of a lack of effective adherence, or enforcement, of current licence conditions. This is leading to vulnerable people being forced onto prepayment meters by bulk magistrate warrants or remote switches.
“It doesn’t just put those households directly affected at risk, it undermines confidence of millions vulnerable people to seek support from suppliers to get them through the worst of the energy crisis. Beyond supporting growing calls for a temporary ban on forced installs, we need to develop a bespoke plan to stop people building up debt and self-disconnecting in the first place. This means rewiring the energy market to provide more affordable tariffs and finding new ways to address the underlining debt issues, which are rife due to soaring energy costs.”
It follows an article by The Times this week finding failures in processes and policies by a third-party contractor for British Gas, which has since suspended all warrant activity.
An Ofgem spokesperson said: “These are extremely serious allegations from The Times. We are launching an urgent investigation into British Gas and we won’t hesitate to take firm enforcement action.
“It is unacceptable for any supplier to impose forced installations on vulnerable customers struggling to pay their bills before all other options have been exhausted and without carrying out thorough checks to ensure it is safe and practicable to do so.
“We have launched a major market-wide review investigating the rapid growth in prepayment meter installations and potential breaches of licences driving it.
“We are clear that suppliers must work hard to look after their customers at this time, especially those who are vulnerable. The energy crisis is no excuse for unacceptable behaviour towards any customer, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances.”
Chris O’Shea, CEO of British Gas parent company Centrica, said: “Protecting vulnerable customers is an absolute priority and we have clear processes and policies to ensure we manage customer debt carefully and safely. The allegations around our third-party contractor Arvato are unacceptable and we immediately suspended their warrant activity.
“Having recently reviewed our internal processes to support our prepayment customers as well as creating a new £10m fund to support those prepayment customers who need help the most, I am extremely disappointed that this has occurred. As a result, on Wednesday morning, we took a further decision to suspend all our prepayment warrant activity at least until the end of the winter.”