Record numbers of people are having their homes broken into by energy firms because of unpaid gas and electricity bills.
The move has sparked fears thousands of cash-strapped customers may suffer the same fate over winter if they can’t afford the new increased charges. In the first 10 months of this year, 4501 warrants were granted to power firms to forcibly enter homes compared with 3064 for last year and 1345 in 2020.
The figures were obtained by the Sunday Mail from the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service under Freedom of Information rules. Energy companies are able to get a warrant from a Justice of the Peace to enter someone’s home and install a pre-payment meter if they are owed money for gas or electricity.
Peter Kelly, director of The Poverty Alliance, said: “At a time of increasing hardship, stress and worry, energy suppliers should not be forcing their way into people’s homes to install pre-payment meters.
“People should be helped to come to an arrangement to pay off debts rather than having their homes invaded by strangers.” In August, the Sunday Mail told of a rise in cases of “self-disconnection”, where people on prepayment meters stop using them because they can’t afford the cost.
In September Tracey Miller, 48, found her home in Macmerry, East Lothian, had been entered byrepresentatives from SSE while she was out and her electricity meter replaced.
Tracey said: “The courts need to decide whether to grant these warrants in the first place.”
A spokeswoman for Energy UK, which represents power companies, said: “Suppliers are required to exhaust all other options, including contacting the customer a number of times to offer repayment plans, before they can move customers on to prepayment meters.”
An Ofgem spokesperson said: “Protecting consumers is our priority and installing a prepayment meter under warrant should only be as a last resort for suppliers.”
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