It’s time to stop forcing people onto prepayment meters – here’s why

Being able to heat and power your home to safe levels is a necessity, not a luxury. But our new research finds that millions of households are regularly forced to live in the cold and the dark because they cannot afford to keep their prepayment meter topped up.

We found 1 in 3 (33%) people on prepayment meters were disconnected at least once in the past year for this reason. That’s more than 3 million people, or 1 person every 10 seconds. And for most it’s not just a one off. More than 2 million people are being cut off at least once a month.

Perhaps the most damning finding is that more than 130,000 households including a disabled person or someone with a long-term health condition are being disconnected from their energy supply at least once a week because they can’t afford to top up.

Energy supplier regulations state that people in vulnerable circumstances, including disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, should not be moved onto prepayment meters. It simply isn’t safe to do so. Our research lays bare the consequence of years of failure to enforce these rules.

Disconnection is dangerous

When a prepayment meter isn’t topped up, the household power or gas supply is completely disconnected. No heat. No light. No hot water. Nothing.

It’s not surprising then that 63% of people using prepayment meters who had been cut off in the last year said it had a negative impact on their mental health. Nearly half (47%) reported a negative impact on their physical health.

We’ve heard from people with health conditions who can’t refrigerate their medicine, families who couldn’t cook a hot meal at Christmas, and children who are having to do their homework in the dark.

Change is urgently needed

As a society it’s time to decide whether we believe that people being cut off from power and heat is acceptable. The water industry has already made a clear choice – water suppliers have been banned from disconnecting customers for more than two decades.

Cutting off households on credit meters is also effectively banned. So why is it different for people with prepayment meters? Responsibility for disconnection is passed from the supplier to the customer, but the result is exactly the same.

We’re calling for a total ban on the forced installation of new prepayment meters until additional safeguards are put in place to protect people from being totally without heat and power. This ban must include legacy prepayment meters and remote switches for smart meters.

And it’s not enough just to look at people being newly moved onto prepayment meters when there are already millions of people who are struggling to top up their meter.  We’re calling for a review of anyone who uses a prepayment meter, with a commitment to replace them with credit meters where this is necessary and consent is given, to prevent the risk of disconnection.

Households which remain on prepayment meters must be offered a quick and straightforward route to secure additional support. That could include non-repayable emergency vouchers, additional credit and practical debt help like debt holidays.

Consumers must be protected

The recent market turmoil and intervention from the government through the Energy Price Guarantee is an opportunity to rethink the responsibilities of energy suppliers. A pause on forced moves to prepayment meters is an opportunity to ensure consumers are protected while these broader conversations play out.

What to do about the potential increase in energy debt being built up must also be part of this conversation. We don’t expect energy suppliers to shoulder responsibility for the broader cost-of-living crisis alone and are committed to working collaboratively with Ofgem, government and industry to find a workable solution.