Energy firms should be banned from forcing customers onto prepayment meters because they are struggling to pay bills, Labour demanded last night.
More than three million people were left without heating or power last year because they ran out of credit on their meter.
Shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband said there should be a moratorium on the "shameful" installation of prepayment meters over the winter.
An estimated 600,000 people were forced to make the switch after racking up debt with their energy supplier last year, compared with 380,000 in 2021, according to Citizens Advice.
People using prepayment meters pay for their gas and electricity by adding credit to a card or key in a corner shop or Post Office.
But this is a more expensive method of paying than by direct debit.
Suppliers have been increasingly using court warrants to force their way into homes to install prepayment meters, or have been automatically switching them on smart meters.
In a letter to Business Secretary Grant Shapps, Mr Miliband wrote: “No family in Britain should have to go without the heat and power they need to get by. Even in a period of high energy prices, it should be the number one priority of the Government and the energy regulator to do everything they can to ensure that people’s heat and power is not cut off.
“Serious concerns have been raised that not enough is being done by energy companies to identify customers in vulnerable circumstances before installing a prepayment meter, and that this is leading to a rocketing in voluntary self-disconnections.”
The former Labour leader added: “ Rishi Sunak must not blame others for what is his Government’s dereliction of duty. He is standing by while families across the country are being cut off.”
Labour has already called for an end to people on prepayment meters having to pay more for their energy than debit customers.
The party demanded additional government support to individual households on prepayment meters.
Ministers have also been urged to outlaw self-disconnection for anyone on prepayment meters to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable customers are not left without basic energy provision this winter.
Self-disconnection happens when a consumer with a prepayment meter does not have enough money to top up their meter and their meter cuts out, or when they do not realise that credit is running out.
Last month the Commons heard terminally ill people are returning home from hospital or a hospice to discover their energy supply has been cut off due to their meter having self-disconnected.
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