More than 26k PPM warrants granted in just three weeks

More than 26,000 warrants for forced installation of prepayment meters (PPMs) were granted in the first three weeks of this year, the government has revealed.

Lord Justice Edis, the senior presiding judge of England and Wales with responsibility for the magistrates courts, has today issued guidance instructing them to hold off on dealing with any more PPM  warrant applications from energy companies.

Last week shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead obtained figures from the Ministry of Justice outlining the number of court orders granted for forcible PPM installations so far this year.

Responding to a written question from Whitehead, junior justice minister Mike Freer said up to 25 January, 26,430 warrants requested by energy suppliers were granted.

Freer added that when granting applications for warrants, Justices of the Peace must be satisfied by evidence that suppliers have met statutory requirements, that they and their agents have complied with Ofgem’s requirements and occupiers have been informed of their right to a hearing.

Whitehead told Utility Week: “It is shameful that forced installation of prepayment meters is continuing to cut off people’s heat and power, including some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

“Government inaction means that thousands of families face being disconnected by the backdoor, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, with evidence piling up that their approach so far has made absolutely no difference to these forced installations.”

He reiterated Labour’s calls for an emergency moratorium on forced installations this winter, “to protect households and force the government and energy companies get a grip on this problem”.

The figures were published  in the week The Times alleged that agents working on behalf of British Gas have broken into customers’ homes to install PPMs.

At the online launch last week of a new All Party Parliamentary Group, which has been set up to campaign on PPMs, its chair Anne MacLaughlin accused the government of being “reluctant” to crack down on forcible installations because it doesn’t “believe you should be telling companies what to do”.

The Scottish Nationalist Party MP said: “They would rather they (the companies) did it on a voluntary basis but they’re not doing it.

“The only way to do it is to legislate unless the government is going to tell me that they can be absolutely certain that, for instance, they (companies) are all using the priority services register properly and they’re all making sure that nobody with any vulnerability has been put on a prepayment meter, which they can’t do because they can’t monitor them all.”

At the same meeting, former Welsh Assembly member Bethan Sayed highlighted remarks by the country’s top law officer that he wants to raise forced installations of PPM with UK ministers as a civil rights issue.

The meeting took place on the same day that the government blocked a private members bill by Liberal Democrat energy spokesperson Wera Hobhouse MP, which would have banned forcible PPM installations until the end of next month.