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 Minister on 23 January 2023, whether his Department has conducted an assessment to compare the potential effect of customers of his call for suppliers to voluntarily stop the practice of forced prepayment switching with requiring energy suppliers by regulation to stop forced prepayment switching.

The Government is focused on helping energy customers, especially those in vulnerable circumstances, through the cost-of-living crisis. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s call for suppliers to stop voluntarily the practice of forced prepayment switching is one part of the 5-point plan on prepayment meters. A blanket ban on prepayment meter switching as a last resort could lead to an increase in bailiff action and physical disconnections. The Government has no plans to remove this option.