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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Leader of the House on 12 January 2023, Official Report col 716, if he will make an oral statement on forced prepayment meter installations.

This matter was raised at BEIS oral questions on 17 January 2023.

Ofgem has rules in place that restrict the force-fitting of a prepayment meter on customers who are in debt, except as a last resort. This includes considerations of whether a consumer’s vulnerability makes a prepayment meter a poor choice, for example where medical equipment is required, there is a child under five, or a disability make a prepayment meter unsafe. Suppliers are required to follow specific processes before switching a customer to a prepayment tariff or meter, which are monitored by Ofgem.