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British Gas has said it will bring forward lower prices for prepayment meter (PPM) customers by three months.
Chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced in the Budget earlier this month that the standing charges for customers on PPMs will be brought in line with those on comparable direct debits from July until the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) ends in April 2024.
However, the Centrica-owned retailer has announced it will bring forward the lower price, which it says will save £59 a year from an average dual fuel bill, from 1 April.
The brand has been at the forefront of public outcry about the forced installation of PPMs since a Times investigation into the behaviour of its contractor. Earlier this week, the government revealed British Gas had installed 25,000 PPMs under warrant in 2022.
Announcing the price drop for PPM customers, British Gas pointed out that it has a £10 million customer support fund specifically for PPM customers. This provides non-repayable credit up to £250 – with £5 million already paid out to 50,000 customers.
The company set out how the average PPM customer would be impacted:
| Direct Debit | Current prepayment prices | Prepayment from 1st April | |
| Gas | £1,343 | £1,403 | £1,343 |
| Elec | £1,156 | £1,141 | £1,141 |
| Dual Fuel | £2,500 | £2,544 | £2,485 |
Chief executive Chris O’Shea said: “We know that more help is needed for prepayment customers, and we support the government’s decision to lower prepayment prices to the same level as direct debit customers. We wanted to do more to support this group of customers by introducing this change as soon as we could so British Gas prepayment customers will benefit immediately.
“As well as helping over 650,000 customers in the past year with much needed support such as credit on their meters and cash grants, our teams are giving expert advice at this busy time to help guide people through this crisis. Our call centres are helping around a million energy customers each month with their bills and our engineers are in homes every day advising customers on how to be more energy efficient and make savings.”
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