The number of households who were cut off from gas and electricity this winter because they did not have enough money to top up their prepayment meter has risen sharply.
For electricity, the number of customers with smart prepayment meters (PPM) whose supply was cut off – known as “self-disconnection” – at least once for more than three hours, increased by 25% to 269,351 in the first three months of 2023, according to data released by the energy watchdog for Great Britain, Ofgem. For gas, there was a 13% increase to 534,462.
