Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential correlation between levels of poverty and the use of pre-payment energy meters in the UK.

A household is in fuel poverty if they are on a lower income and unable to heat their home for a reasonable cost.

Data on fuel poverty and payment methods is published in the Fuel Poverty detailed tables 2022 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-detailed-tables-2022.

Ofgem's rules require suppliers to ensure prepayment meters are only installed if it is ‘safe and reasonably practicable’ to do so, and there are strong regulatory protections in place to support prepayment meter customers.