British Gas agrees £20m payout and compensation for prepayment meter failures

More than a million British Gas customers will benefit from a small reduction in their bills as the company implements a plan to reduce prepayment meter charges ahead of time (Tommy Louth/Alamy/PA) -

British Gas has agreed to a £20 million payout and to compensate customers who had a prepayment meter installed without their permission, regulator Ofgem has said following an investigation.

The watchdog found that British Gas failed to protect vulnerable customers by forcibly fitting the energy meters into people’s homes in previous years.