Business secretary Grant Shapps has slammed the 'scandalous and shameful' practice of forcibly fitting prepayment meters in the homes of the most vulnerable. It comes after The Times reported that British Gas had used debt collectors to visit the homes of vulnerable customers.
The energy giant has since announced it will stop using warrants to force entry into customers’ homes and install prepayment meters. Mr Shapps, the business, energy and industrial strategy secretary, has called for 'urgent answers' from British Gas and has warned other energy suppliers to end the practice.
Writing in The Times, he said: "It is scandalous and shameful for British Gas to leave families anxious, cold and in the dark." Mr Shapps informed Times readers he had tasked his colleague, the energy minister Graham Stuart, to 'demand urgent answers from British Gas' on the circumstances around why the energy company thinks fitting the meters 'is an acceptable practice.'
