Responding to Ofgem’s prepayment meter Market Compliance Review, Dhara Vyas, chief executive at Energy UK, said:
“Suppliers have worked hard to co-operate with this comprehensive review and taken further action to put things right in the cases where a prepayment meter (PPM) shouldn’t have been installed – or where there was insufficient support for the customers concerned.
“Since the period covered by this review, a new Code of Practice has been adopted and agreed between suppliers and Ofgem. This has strengthened the safeguards for customers and detailed the process that suppliers must follow before any installation – including making repeated attempts to contact the customer first and carrying out a site visit to ensure meters are only installed where it safe to do so.
“Suppliers have been working closely with Ofgem to meet the requirements of its review and have signed up to the Code of Practice before they have been able to restart involuntary installations of PPMs and have carried out thorough testing of the new processes.
“Involuntary installations have been a last – but necessary – resort for cases where repeated attempts to address debt with the customer through other means have been unsuccessful. It’s bad for customers to fall further and further into arrears, and bad debt ultimately drives up the prices that are paid by all customers.
“Since the pause on installations, customer debt has risen to a record £4 billion, and the industry remains keen to work with Ofgem on the proposed relief scheme to tackle this problem.
“As ever, if customers are struggling with debt, we would urge them to discuss it with their supplier so that they can see what help is on offer.”