Ban Forced PPMs Archives - Page 2 of 2 - End Fuel Poverty Coalition

Courts continue to grant entry warrants to energy firms

Courts have granted over 13,000 warrants allowing energy firms the right to force entry into homes and businesses since a voluntary end to the forced installation of prepayment meters (PPMs) was introduced in February 2023.

There are currently exceptions to the voluntary ban, meaning that energy firms still have the right to force entry to install prepayment meters on businesses and also to enter properties for safety purposes.

But the investigation by the i paper claims that the Ministry of Justice “does not keep data on why energy firms and their agents request warrants to force entry into properties.” Only two applications for warrants have been rejected by the courts since February.

The ongoing campaign to ban forced prepayment meters came after it was shown that energy firms were using the courts to gain warrants to enter vulnerable people’s homes to force them onto more expensive PPMs.

Energy firms have recently signed up to a new voluntary code of conduct, designed to govern the forced installation of prepayment meters. This is due to come into force from 1 October 2023, but the End Fuel Poverty Coalition argues that the guidelines do not go far enough, failing to protect highly vulnerable groups and failing to help to tackle rising energy debt.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

“These figures should be sounding alarm bells for ministers, magistrates and at Ofgem. We need urgent clarifications on why these warrants were issued, and the process that energy firms followed to secure them.

“The public have had enough of this scandal and are calling for the government to act to bring in provisions for a ban on forced prepayment meters into the Energy Bill currently in Parliament.”

Almost three-quarters of the public would back changes to the Energy Bill to ensure the Government can ban the forced transfer of homes onto PPMs, according to figures from the Warm This Winter campaign.

An amendment to the Energy Bill has been tabled by Anne McLaughlin MP to bring in such a ban and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition urges all MPs to add their names to support amendments NC1 and NC2 during the committee stage of the legislation.

MPs urged to ban forced PPMs in Energy Bill

Almost three-quarters of the public would back changes to the Energy Bill to ensure the Government can ban the forced transfer of homes onto prepayment meters (PPMs), according to new figures from the Warm This Winter campaign.

Half of the public believe there should be a permanent ban of the forced transfer of households onto prepayment meters to ensure they pay off their energy debts, with a further 23% backing a ban while energy bills stay high. [1]

The Energy Bill, which has its second reading in the House of Commons on 9 May, currently makes no provision for a ban. This is despite almost two-thirds (62%) of the public being very or somewhat concerned by the PPMs scandal which rocked the energy industry earlier this year. [2]

An investigation by the i paper revealed the extent to which energy firms were using the courts to gain warrants to enter people’s homes to force them onto PPMs. During the investigation, energy firms assured campaigners, ministers, MPs and the media that these meters were not used on vulnerable customers. However, The Times undercover investigation into British Gas’ use of PPMs proved this was not the case.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

“During the PPMs scandal, the Secretary of State claimed that he did not have the power to ban the forced transfer of households onto PPMs. We would urge politicians to give the Government these powers to safeguard the most vulnerable from this inhumane process.”

An amendment to the Energy Bill to give Ministers the power to ban forced PPMs has been tabled by Anne McLaughlin. The SNP MP for Glasgow North East chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Prepayment Meters and commented:

“The energy firms have lost all respect for Ofgem and they’re running circles around them. If they do breach Ofgem rules, they’re happy to take a slap on the wrist and pay the fines.

“The 18th April Voluntary Code of Conduct to prevent the forced installation of prepayment meters doesn’t go far enough, so we need the power to properly regulate energy firms and safeguard vulnerable prepayment meter customers handed to the Secretary of State for Energy Security & Net Zero.

“The Energy Bill gives us a unique opportunity to do this in legislation, and I’m urging the UK Government to back any amendment that will allow this to happen.”

Liberal Democrat Peer, Lord Teverson, who attempted to introduce a PPM amendment during the Energy Bill’s earlier stages said:

“There is nothing more frightening than to have someone invade your home and force changes on how you run your life.

“That is what having your energy meter changed to prepayment can mean for ordinary families already under stress from high energy costs. The Energy Bill could fix this if the ministers willed it.”

Labour MP for Liverpool Walton Dan Carden added:

“In the middle of the worst cost of living crisis for fifty years energy companies were breaking into the homes of impoverished and vulnerable customers.

“It is clear that throughout last winter, energy companies felt as though they could act with impunity. Indeed, there can be few clearer examples of how our energy system is rigged against struggling families in favour of unscrupulous suppliers.

“The Government must now use the Energy Bill to ban the forced transfer onto prepayment meters in order to protect families in the future from suffering the same inhumane practices. It is the Government’s decision to make.”

Plans for an amendment to the Bill to ban forced PPMs are backed by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition and the Warm This Winter campaign, which last week started a mass action to persuade MPs to support amendments that would help to improve Britain’s broken energy system.

Jonathan Bean from Fuel Poverty Action, which is part of the Warm This Winter campaign, said:

“We were promised no return to the bad old days of forced PPMs. But there is a serious threat of more trauma and suffering this winter unless a permanent ban is put in place. MPs need to act now to protect their constituents.”

Eva Watkinson from Debt Justice said:

“Forcing people in debt onto pre-pay meters adds to the shame, stigma and trauma that they often experience. This disgusting practice must now be banned by the government and unpayable debts written off. ”

Tessa Khan from Uplift added:

“The Energy Bill is back in the House of Commons, but right now, it’s a missed opportunity to start fixing our broken energy system.”

ENDS

For more information, sources and background on the PPMs scandal visit https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/about-fuel-poverty/forced-pre-payment-meter-transfer/

Representatives from other political parties can submit their comments to info@endfuelpoverty.org.uk for inclusion in the version of this story on the End Fuel Poverty Coalition website.

[1] 2,193 people interviewed online between 4-5 May 2023 on behalf of the Warm This Winter campaign. Results are weighted to be representative of the GB adult population.

Question asked was “Do you think the forced transfer of households onto energy prepayment meters to ensure they pay off their energy debts should be banned?”

Yes – permanently (50%)
Yes – while energy bills stay high (23%)
No (11%)
Don’t know (16%)

[2] As above. Question asked was “media investigations revealed that energy firms were using court warrants to force homes to accept prepayment meters (PPMs) in their homes. How concerned were you about these revelations?”

Very concerned (36%)
Somewhat concerned (26%)
Neither concerned nor unconcerned (12%)
Not very concerned (7%)
Not at all concerned (9%)
Don’t know / haven’t heard about this (10%)

PPMs code of practice does not go far enough

Energy firms have signed up to a new code of conduct to govern the forced installation of prepayment meters.

The code has been described by Ofgem as a “new voluntary code of practice [which] is a minimum standard that clearly sets out steps all suppliers must take before moving to a PPM which will place a voluntary ban on forcibly installing prepayment meters in the homes of customers over 85 and will make representatives wear body cameras as part of a new code of conduct.”

However, a spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

“This code of practice simply does not go far enough and the fact it is voluntary undermines its objective.

“There are really vulnerable groups which have been omitted from its full protection and we have serious concerns about how it will be implemented, such as how people will prove their medical conditions without being humiliated by an energy firm health inspection.

“The plans also fail to deal with the elephant in the room – the growing household energy debt mountain. According to figures from the Warm This Winter campaign 29% of the population is in debt to their energy firm.

“This was the Government’s opportunity to take meaningful action and introduce targeted debt relief for those most in need. It has failed to do so and seems to have given in to energy industry demands to let them go back to the bad old days of forcing prepayment meters onto customers in distress.”

Rachael Williamson, head of policy and external affairs at Chartered Institute of Housing responded to the announcement, commenting:

“This new code of practice is an important step forward in ensuring that some of the most vulnerable residents cannot have a prepayment meter installed in their home against their will. CIH welcome the code and Ofgem’s parallel focus on tighter enforcement and oversight, but we would like to see it go further and forbid forced installations in the homes of all vulnerable residents, not just those defined in the code as high risk.

“This is especially important for renters, who are more likely to be financially vulnerable or living with a cold-related illness, and who have borne the brunt of the cost of living crisis. We now need to see these changes incorporated into suppliers’ license conditions as soon as possible.”

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said:

“It’s good to see some regulation coming in to begin to rein in the practice of forcibly installing pre-payment meters (PPMs), which has previously been something of a Wild West, but these new rules do not go far enough.

“We don’t think any older person should be subjected to this treatment, not only the over-85s and the over-75s who are deemed vulnerable in some way, partly as a matter of principle but also because of concerns about how effective the assessment of vulnerability will be. The risk is that some older people – and younger people too – who should definitely not be on a PPM end up on one.

“Today marks an important first step but ultimately the sooner the practice of forcibly installing PPMs ends the better. In the meantime PPMs should only ever be used as a last resort.”

The Centre for Sustainable Energy also agreed that the moves do not go far enough, writing in a blog post:

“CSE advisors are hearing from more and more people in absolutely desperate circumstances every day. Keeping healthily warm is a basic human right and it’s wrong that so many people are struggling with cold homes and seriously worried about money.

“We urgently need a long term plan to fix our broken energy system. We need targeted support for people on low incomes. We need a strategy to improve homes so they so they don’t leak heat.”

Pre-payment meters pressure mounts on government and suppliers

The pressure on the Government and energy firms to ban the forced transfer of households to pre-payment meters (PPMs) is growing.

The scandal, revealed in the i paper, that energy firms have secured almost 500,000 court warrants to install these PPMs in homes of customers in debt, has led to debates and questions in the Houses of Parliament.

The House of Commons agreed to a motion put forward by Anne McLaughlin MP that:

That this House… is deeply concerned that so called self-disconnection of prepayment meter customers will see the most vulnerable in our society left without heat, light and facilities to cook and wash over the coming winter; and strongly urges the Government to outlaw self-disconnection to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable customers are not left without basic energy provision.

Further questions from MPs across the political spectrum have challenged the legal process followed by energy firms and magistrates – with media reports likening the situation to the “Wild West.”

In response, OVO Energy has introduced a temporary ban on forcing people onto prepayment meters over Christmas – but insists the practice will resume in the new year.

The firm’s promise came in response to a demand from campaign group 38 Degrees, who recently wrote to all the UK’s major energy suppliers urging them to stop forcibly installing prepayment meters and remotely switching smart meters to prepayment mode without customer consent.

OVO also highlighted its suspension of debt recovery until at least March 2023 – meaning all customer top-ups will be used to pay for usage and standing charges only, not to pay off existing debts. But this will only be a temporary reprieve if debt collection restarts in the spring – when energy prices are once again set to rise.

Tens of thousands of people have now added their names to a 38 Degrees petition addressed to the CEOs of Britain’s major energy companies, demanding a total end to any switching without active, informed consumer consent.

People can add their name here: https://act.38degrees.org.uk/act/stop-forced-prepayment

Matthew McGregor, CEO at 38 Degrees, said:

By pledging not to push anyone into prepayment over the Christmas period, OVO is demonstrating they know just how damaging it is.

While it may be good news that struggling families won’t wake up to a prepayment meter on December 25th, they could still be facing disconnection by the backdoor come January.

If it’s not acceptable at Christmas time, why should this harmful practice be considered business as usual for the rest of the year?

Every single time these multi-billion pound companies push a prepayment meter onto someone who is struggling, they’re risking another customer facing the stark choice between feeding the meter and feeding their family.

But they have the chance to do the right thing: put people before profit by committing to end all forced transfer to prepayment.

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, said in response to a question in the House of Commons from Gerald Jones MP on Tuesday about to need for extra support for customers on the meters:

We will continue to monitor the situation over the months ahead because we are aware of the extreme vulnerabilities of this group.

But a spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said the Government needed to go further:

Even the energy firms are now waking up to the reality that pre-payment meter customers are struggling in cold damp homes this winter.

Research for the Warm This Winter campaign has shown that PPM customers are likely to be vulnerable or have health conditions made worse by being unable to stay warm.

Many will have been forced onto a pre-payment meter against their will.

With MPs and charities increasingly concerned for the wellbeing of people in cold damp homes, we cannot leave their safety to chance.

The Government must act urgently to ban any further forced installations of pre-payment meters either by court warrant or by smart meter.