Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | FEBRUARY 2023 | 21 Energy Comment Anne Pardoe Principal policy manager, Citizens Advice B eing able to heat and power your home to safe levels is a necessity, not a luxury. But our research nds that millions of house- holds are regularly forced to live in the cold and the dark because they cannot a ord 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 three million people, or one person every 10 sec- onds. And for most it's not just a one o . More than two million people are being cut o at least once a month. Perhaps the most damning nding is that more than 130,000 households including a disabled person or some- one with a long-term health condition are being disconnected from their energy supply at least once a week because they can't a ord 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 on to prepayment meters. It simply isn't safe to do so. Our research lays bare the consequence of years of failure to enforce these rules. 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 PPM who had been cut o in the past 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 couldn'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 o from power and heat is acceptable. The water industry has already made a clear choice – for more than two decades water suppliers have been banned from disconnecting customers. Cutting o households on credit meters is also e ectively banned. So why is it di erent for people with prepayment meters? Responsibility for disconnection is passed from the supplier to the customer, but the result is the same. We're calling for a total ban on the forced installation of new PPM until additional safeguards are put in place to protect people. This ban must include legacy PPM and remote switches for smart meters. And it's not enough just to look at people being newly moved on to PPM 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 PPM, with a commitment to replace them with credit meters where this is necessary and consent is given, to prevent the risk of disconnection. Households that remain on PPMs must be o ered 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. 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 PPM 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 nd a workable solution. "It's time to stop forcing people on to prepayment meters" It claims PPM households have "too o˜ en been treated as second class citizens within the energy market". It adds: "The regulator and industry have repeatedly failed to prioritise this group when rolling out sector-wide improvements even though they o˜ en have the most to gain. Over the years, the regulator has also been slow to step in to protect prepayment meter customers from harmful practices. This must change." Rule being outed The report further takes aim at energy retail- ers and accuses them of breaching regula- tions in regards to installing PPMs. Current Ofgem rules mean suppliers are not allowed to force those in vulnerable cir- cumstances on to a PPM if they do not want one. Yet the report says the charity's frontline advisers have "consistently seen evidence of people in vulnerable circumstances being moved on to prepayment meters, in breach of energy supplier regulations". "We continue to see evidence of these practices even a˜ er the regulator wrote to suppliers in mid-November to remind them of their obligations," it says. In total, Citizens Advice estimates that 600,000 people were forced on to a PPM for debt in 2022, compared with 380,000 in 2021, and it forecasts that more than 160,000 more could be moved on to a PPM by the end of this winter if no further action is taken. The report's key recommendation is for a total ban of forced PPM installations until new protections are introduced that ensure households can no longer be fully discon- nected. This ban must include legacy PPMs and remote switches for smart meters, the charity says. Pressure is also growing politically, with the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fuel Poverty and Energy E¢ ciency backing calls for a moratorium on forced PPMs. While being critical of the actions of some suppliers, there was an acceptance from the MPs that government and Ofgem also had their part to play and that ultimately this was a wider debate about targeted support for vulnerable customers to help them clear their debts. For both sides of the debate this is the ultimate goal: ensuring that customers are able to get help to tackle debt before it spi- rals out of control. PPMs are a symptom of this problem, not the cause of it. Only through tackling these underlying issues and providing targeted support will people like Shamima get the help they need. James Wallin, Editor forcing people on to prepayment meters"

• Cover