Over a quarter of Scots households on pre-payment smart meters were left without power between July and September last year, according to the UK Government.
More than 65,000 of the roughly 200,000 Scots households that use pre-payment smart meters were left without energy after running out of credit during the third quarter of 2022.
This comes after the business secretary Grant Shapps asked energy suppliers to stop forcing households struggling with energy bills to pre-payment meters. Prepayment meters are often more expensive.
Citizens advice estimated that 600,000 people across the UK were forced onto a pre-payment meter in 2022 because they couldn't afford their energy bills. This increased from 380,000 in 2021.
Alba MP Kenny MacAskill said the numbers were "staggering" and called forcing people onto pre-payment meters "despicable cruelty".
Some 66,305 prepayment smart meters in Scotland disconnected at least once between July and September last year. There were 203,484 customers using smart meters during this period.
The number had reduced from 68,646 in the second three months of 2022, but his had jumped up from 49,874 in the first three months of the year.
MacAskill said that this was just "the tip of the iceberg" as energy regulator Ofgem does not hold data for people who have gone without power on traditional pre-payment meters or who use alternative fuel.
There are 294,459 households across Scotland that use traditional prepayment meters and 170,000 use alternative fuel.
MacAskill called for pre-payment meter tariffs to be reduced:
"This is despicable cruelty at the height of a cold winter. These tragic figures are all humans suffering from cold and lack of access to power through poverty.
"This is only the tip of the iceberg as they are from last year before prices rose and the weather worsened.
"They also exclude many on the old pre-payment meters who were already the poorest and most vulnerable.
"Forced installation of prepayment meters must end, the higher charges must be revoked and a social tariff for the poorest brought in urgently. In an energy rich county it’s an obscenity.
"All that’s required to address that is a ministerial direction to Ofgem and charges could be equalised between credit and debit as well as the provision of a fund to assist those who’ve seen debt mount.”
CEO of campaign group Energy Action Scotland Frazer Scott said that pre-payment meter households may need to pay double the amount of those on direct debit: "More and more households with pre-payment meters are going longer and longer without energy this winter.
"Local charities and housing association tell me about the increasing hardship being experienced by vulnerable people, people in low incomes with pre-payment.
"Unlike people paying by direct debit, prepayment households face higher unit costs and these are not spread evenly over a 12 month period.
"To achieve the same level of warmth pre-payment meter households in the winter months may need to spend double the amount of a direct debit household. People were able to manage when energy cost less and pre-payment was a choice that many made."
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The Government expects energy suppliers to do all they can to help customers who are struggling to pay their bill.
“The regulator Ofgem requires energy suppliers to offer solutions for customers in, or at risk of, debt or disconnection. This includes offering emergency credit to all prepayment meter customers and additional support credit to customers in vulnerable circumstances.
“Last week, the Business Secretary wrote to suppliers calling on them to stop moving customers over to prepayment meters without taking every step to support those in difficulty.”
A spokesperson for Ofgem said: "As part of Ofgem’s role, we have taken steps to protect consumers from forced prepayment meter (PPM) installations.
"This includes, for example, introducing and extending a universal cap on charges in relation to PPMs installed under warrant, and prohibitions on the use of or ability to charge any costs for warrants in relation to consumers in certain vulnerable situations, and a proportionality principle covering all supplier costs and actions when recovering debt, including the use of a warrant to install a PPM.
"For people for whom the experience would be severely traumatic, such as those with severe mental health issues, we have banned installations entirely.
"In November we conducted our market compliance review covering how suppliers are handling vulnerable customers and customers in payment difficulty which brought many PPM related issues in the sector to light. We are monitoring closely and will follow up with enforcement action if necessary. We also wrote a warning letter to suppliers on the practice of remote switching
"We are now also carrying out a new in-depth review of enforced PPM installations to ensure customers, especially the most vulnerable, are being treated fairly and that suppliers are following their licence conditions. Again, where necessary we will take appropriate action to protect consumers. This is part of our wider strategy to improve standards within the energy industry."
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