Energy suppliers have agreed to a ban on forcibly installing prepayment meters in the homes of customers over 85 and will make representatives wear body cameras as part of a new code of conduct, the Guardian can reveal.
Suppliers have agreed to fresh guidelines for putting in the devices when households have run up energy debt after an outcry over agents using court-approved entry warrants to break in to install them.
As a result, energy firms will now have to make at least 10 attempts to contact a customer and conduct a “site welfare visit” before a prepayment meter is installed.
Campaigners, however, said the moves did not go far enough for older and disabled households, arguing that the new rules left elderly people below the age of 85 and some disabled groups unprotected.
The government and Ofgem have faced months of criticism from activists and opposition MPs for allowing forced installations under entry warrants that were being approved en masse during an energy and cost of living crisis, leaving an estimated 3.2 million people in cold and dark homes last year as they ran out of credit.
An estimated 600,000 people were forced to make the switch away from credit meters in 2022 after racking up debt with their energy supplier, up from 380,000 the year before, according to research from Citizens Advice.
The practice of forced installations was temporarily banned in February after the Times reported that debt agents working for British Gas were ignoring signs that customers were vulnerable and fitting the meters.
The Guardian understands that the regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, will announce at 7am on Tuesday that all energy suppliers in England, Scotland and Wales have signed up to a code of conduct that sets out the practices they should adhere to when fitting the meters, which must be topped up regularly and are designed to gradually recover debts a customer has accrued.
Under the new rules, customers who are forced on to a prepay meter either physically or through their smart meter being remotely switched on to prepayment mode will be given £30 of credit initially to reduce the risk of them being immediately removed from supply.
Suppliers have agreed not to fit meters for customers over 85 – if they do not have anyone to support them in the house – or anyone with a terminal illness. Those with health conditions such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis and sickle cell disease, which would be worsened by living in a cold home, will also be exempt from such an installation.
Households that require a continuous supply for health reasons such as dependence on powered medical equipment, cannot be cut off.
If there is no one in the house with the physical or mental ability to top up the meter then installations will also be prevented. Physical meters are topped up with keycards at local shops, while smart meters on prepay tariffs can be topped up using an app.
Sources said debt agents working for suppliers would also be required to wear body cameras or audio equipment to ensure the rules were being followed.
Ofgem has also asked suppliers to identify where meters were wrongfully installed and to return the supplier to their previous tariff and offer compensation.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “This does not go far enough, what about elderly people below the age of 85? Also some disabled people could still miss out – people using power to charge their wheelchairs, for example. There will be people who aren’t covered.
“For those with medical conditions, there will need to be clear detail on which conditions are covered and how details of the conditions are provided to energy suppliers.”
Tom Marsland, the policy manager at the disability equality charity Scope, said: “This is a welcome step forward from Ofgem. It will now be clearer when the rules are broken, and remote switching will be included.
“But this process will still allow energy companies to install prepayment meters in some disabled households. We want to see the forced installation of meters and remote switching banned outright for disabled people.”
Ofgem will now begin a consultation on making the voluntary code part of suppliers’ licence conditions.
The regulator’s chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, is expected to remind suppliers in Tuesday’s announcement that forced installations are a last resort and the code of conduct represents a minimum standard.
Brearley is expected to say that he wants chief executives of energy suppliers to “treat their most vulnerable customers as they would want their own loved ones to be treated”.
One of the criticisms of prepay meters had been that they were installed in some of the poorest and most vulnerable households, but charged a higher rate for energy. Last month the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced that from July prepay customers would no longer be charged more, saving 4 million households £45 a year on their bills.
Suppliers have called for social tariffs to be implemented as a long-term solution to protecting vulnerable households, which research has estimated could save 12 million households on the lowest incomes up to £1,500.
The Guardian revealed this month that energy suppliers have struggled to identify which of their customers are vulnerable and that awareness of priority service registers designed to protect them is low.
Ofgem declined to comment.
