British Gas halts use of warrants to force people on to prepayment meters

The business secretary, Grant Shapps, said he was ‘horrified by the findings’ of the investigation and has ordered an urgent meeting with British Gas. Photograph: John Birdsall/Alamy

British Gas has suspended the use of court warrants to force the installation of prepayment meters after evidence that agents working on its behalf ignored customers’ vulnerabilities.

MPs and consumer groups had raised concerns that elderly and disabled people were being forced on to prepayment meters and then routinely cut off from heat and power as they could not afford to top up.