The way energy suppliers assess their customers should be overhauled to avoid vulnerable members of society being unfairly forced on to prepayment meters, an industry expert has suggested. Centrica’s former credit and risk manager Ian Parry told Utility Week that suppliers must be smarter by using third party data sources to check a consumer’s vulnerability before applying for a prepayment meter (PPM) warrant. Parry’s comments come after Scottish Power was recently granted a warrant to forcefully install a PPM in the home of a mother with a six-week-old baby.