A leading charity is calling for a review of households who have already been forced on to prepayment gas and electricity meters against their will in the light of a ban on courts issuing warrants to allow energy firms to fit the meters.
Citizens Advice Newcastle joined the call for new protections to stop people being fully cut off from energy if they could not afford to top up and said there must be a total ban on energy companies forcing those already at breaking point onto prepayment meters.
The charity has previously warned of its fears that people could die in their cold homes as vulnerable families who have to pay for their energy in advance face winter. One customer who lived with her three grandchildren in Walker, Newcastle, told of her fears of being left without power all winter after her smart meter was remotely switched to prepayment mode by Scottish Power to claw back electricity arrears.
Read more: Pressure grows for complete ban on energy firms forcing prepay meters to claw back debt
Despite a complaint being raised and the supplier being informed that the grandmother was vulnerable due to lung conditions including COPD and Emphysema and having guardianship of three grandchildren, the switch took place and the customer was not able to top up because the Scottish Power app was not working, leaving the family without supply for several hours, according to Citizens Advice Newcastle.
Prepayment meters are widely seen as disconnection by the back door as they can force struggling families to cut their own supply or 'self-disconnect' if they have no funds to top up the meter.
Every court in England and Wales has been told to stop issuing warrants that allow energy firms to forcibly fit prepayment meters by senior presiding judge Lord Justice Edis, but he said that energy firms could still make a case for a warrant to be heard if they could satisfy a court "in detail as to the integrity of their procedures, in particular relating to the vulnerability of occupiers". There has not been a time limit set for the moratorium, but its lifting will depend on investigations by Ofgem and the Government.
Major questions remain about whether families will continue to be forced on to prepayment if they have a smart meter, which can be switched remotely by energy companies without the need for a warrant, so will not be covered by the court ban.
Earlier this month, The Times published evidence that debt agents for British Gas had broken into vulnerable people’s homes to fit PAYG meters, and it later emerged that courts have been waving through applications to install prepayment meters. Business Secretary Grant Shapps said he was ‘appalled’ to hear that vulnerable customers struggling with their bills have had ‘their homes invaded’ by debt collectors force-fitting the meters.
But calls are growing for Mr Shapps to go further, with MPs and charities saying even families who have received compensation could find themselves having their energy cut off if they have a smart meter and demanding that wrongly installed meters should be ripped out.
Simon Francis from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said: “Compensation is the least suppliers can offer to people who should never have been on these meters. But this is not the end of the scandal. We need to understand how this process has gone so wrong and put in place a full ban on forced installation of prepayment meters both through the courts and by smart meter mode-switching. It has also highlighted severe failings in the energy market and it is time we thought again about how this vital utility is provided.”
Citizens Advice Newcastle said: "We are calling on new protections to stop people being fully cut off from gas and electricity. Until then, there must be a total ban on energy companies forcing those already at breaking point onto prepayment meters alongside a review of households which already have one in place.
"The energy price guarantee is £2,500 for an average home but the message we are getting is that this is massively unaffordable for some people, who are taking desperate - and dangerous - risks to keep warm. In winter 20-21, it is estimated that 6,000 people in England died as direct result of their homes being too cold, and energy costs then were around half of what they are now. At Citizens Advice Newcastle, we have seen more people who can't afford to heat their homes last year than the previous five years combined. It's shocking and desperate and we are worried that people are going to pass away simply because their homes are too cold."
What can you do if your energy company wants to move you to a prepayment meter to recover debt?
Energy firms can still make a case for a warrant to be heard if they could satisfy a court "in detail as to the integrity of their procedures, in particular relating to the vulnerability of occupiers".
However, your supplier can’t make you move to prepayment if it wouldn’t be safe or practical. This means you can refuse to move to prepayment if:
- You have an illness or disability which makes it difficult for you to top it up
- You have an illness or disability which would be made worse if you lose power
- You can’t afford to top it up
- You are pregnant or have children under 5
- You can’t get to your meter
- You can’t get to a shop to buy credit
Ofgem, the energy regulator, also states that your supplier can’t make you move to prepayment if:
- You don’t agree that you owe money, and you’ve told it this - for example if the debt came from a previous tenant
- It hasn’t offered you other ways to repay money you owe - for example a repayment plan or payments through your benefits
- Your supplier comes to your home to install a prepayment meter without giving you notice - at least 7 days for gas and 7 working days for electricity
- It hasn't given you at least 28 days to repay your debt before writing to you to say it wants to move you to prepayment.
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