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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the number of households who were left without power in the last 12 months as a result of running out of credit on their prepayment meter in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland; and if he will provide a breakdown by (i) local authority and (ii) parliamentary constituency.

Ofgem only holds data for smart meters in prepayment mode that have disconnected, Ofgem does not hold data for traditional prepayment meter disconnections. One of the benefits of smart prepayment over traditional prepayment meters is the ability for energy suppliers to know when customers have gone off supply, and so offer timely support. Smart prepayment also enables consumers to track their balance easily, so they do not unknowingly run out of credit.

Ofgem holds data for Q1 – Q3 2022. The number of smart meters that disconnected at least once across this period are provided in the table below.

Ofgem does not collect data at the local authority or parliamentary constituency level.