British Gas has been banned from force-fitting prepayment meters to protect its vulnerable customers, and all other major energy companies have agreed to suspend the practice.
Ofgem, the energy regulator, issued a legal order preventing British Gas from breaking into its customers’ homes until it could prove that it was complying with all its legal obligations. Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of the regulator, said that he would not hesitate to take “the strongest action in our powers”, adding: “We’ve ordered immediate action to protect British Gas’s customers.”
The order states that the company appears to be “contravening or is likely to contravene” licence conditions in the way that it has been pursuing debts and compels it to turn over relevant documents under threat of prosecution.
The intervention comes after an undercover reporter found that British Gas was routinely sending debt collectors to break into homes and force-fit pay-as-you-go meters, even when customers were known to be extremely vulnerable.
Families forced on to pay-as-you-go meters have included a woman logged in official job notes as suffering with “severe mental health bipolar” and a mother whose daughter was known to be “disabled and has a hoist”. If families cannot afford to top up the meters, their heating or electricity is cut off.