Prepaid gas meters halted amid revelations in British Gas

All energy companies order by Ofgem have been told to stop forcibly installing pre-payment meters.

On Thursday an undercover reporter revealed some customers had faced debt collectors and were filmed breaking into homes to install meters.

Pre-payment meters work on a top-up basis, if the meter is not topped up then the gas and/or electricity is cut off.

Households with vulnerable people such as, young children, pregnant women, elderly people should not have pre-payment meters installed

The footage from The Times shows debt collectors working with British Gas to forcibly install prepayment meters.

Energy companies can obtain a court warrant which does give them the legal right to enter people’s homes and switch customers to a pre-payment meter, if the customer has not been paying their bill.

The investigation by The Times revealed how customers were ‘mistreated’ and forced onto pre-payment meters, victims included disabled and mentally ill people.

Ofgem are now ordering their biggest ever review into the industry to uncover poor practice.