BRITISH Gas has announced it will stop applying for court warrants to enter customers’ homes and fit prepayment meters following reports they had been forced on “vulnerable” customers.
Energy companies can obtain court warrants which give them legal rights to enter people’s homes and fit prepayment meters if customers have not paid their bills.
Customers must then top up to continue receiving gas supplies, and if they fail to do so they risk their heating being cut off.
The Times reported that British Gas sends debt collectors to “break into” people’s homes and “force-fit” pay-as-you-go meters – even when customers are known to have “extreme vulnerabilities”.
An undercover reporter for the newspaper worked for debt collecting contractor Arvato Financial Solutions and accompanied agents who used court warrants to gain entry into customers’ homes to force-fit these meters.
Some of the “vulnerable” customers the Times reporter came across while working at Arvato Financial Solutions included a single father with three young children and a mother with a four-week-old baby.
Owner of British Gas, Centrica, announced it was suspending “all warrant activity” after the newspaper’s article was published.
The parent company will also launch an investigation into the claims.
Centrica chief executive officer Chris O’Shea 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 £10 million 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.
“More broadly, there are clearly significant challenges around affordability and unfortunately, we don’t see that changing anytime soon.
“We need to strike a balance between managing spiralling bad debt and being aware that there are those who refuse to pay and those who cannot pay. We think Government, industry and the regulator need to come together to agree a long-term plan to address this and ultimately create an energy market that is sustainable.”
Energy regulator Ofgem has also announced it will launch an investigation.
A spokesperson said: “These are extremely serious allegations from The Times which we will investigate urgently with 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 recently announced 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, and the energy crisis must not be an excuse for unacceptable behaviour towards any customer – particularly those in vulnerable circumstances.”
A statement from Arvato Financial Solutions read: "Arvato Financial Solutions Limited acts compliantly at all times in accordance with the regulatory requirements in the areas in which we are operationally active. In doing so, we respect and adhere to the regulations of Ofgem as well as other regulatory bodies. Our client is British Gas, whose requirements we also follow.
"We treat customers with whom we come into contact with respect and assess their individual needs at the time of our visit.
"If there has been any verbal or any other type of misconduct by individual employees, we deeply regret it. If any inappropriate statements were made, none of these statements represent the company's views or official guidance on how to interact with consumers.
"Our bonus structure is solely focused on obtaining the most appropriate outcome for each individual customer, we do not prioritize or reward one outcome over another."
