Energy firms told to pay compensation over wrong meters

Energy firms should commencement compensating customers whose homes were wrongfully fitted with a prepayment meter, without waiting for the results of a large review, the regulator has said.

Ofgem main enforcement Jonathan Brearley said companies indispensable reappraisal their ain metre installations immediately.

A six-week pause successful forced prepayment fittings lasts until the extremity of March.

It came aft indebtedness agents for British Gas broke into susceptible people's homes to force-fit meters.

Ofgem is present outlining the presumption of its reappraisal into the rules, regulations and guidance surrounding prepayment meters.

The probe - which volition beryllium implicit by the extremity of March - volition see submissions from the public. Information astir however customers tin connection details of their experiences volition beryllium announced soon.

Mr Brearley said immoderate systematic problems would pb to fines for suppliers but helium said the regulator had been wide to companies astir the rules - and rejected the accusation that Ofgem had been excessively dilatory connected the issue.

"If companies cognize they inappropriately installed a prepayment meter, past they should hole it now," helium told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He said this meant switching the metre backmost to a regular one, if that was what the lawsuit wanted, and giving compensation.

The regulator volition besides behaviour a targeted probe into the actions of British Gas, specifically astir whether it followed the rules nether its licence to enactment customers successful indebtedness earlier force-fitting prepayment meters.

Mr Brearley said that "clearly thing has gone wrong" astatine British Gas and that the probe would beryllium autarkic and wide-ranging.

Prepayment metre customers top-up their metre with credit, which past runs down arsenic they usage vigor astatine home.

Charities and campaigners accidental galore person been near incapable to spend to enactment wealth into their meters owing to soaring vigor prices and different cost-of-living pressures.

However, the commercialized relation for suppliers - Energy UK - has regularly highlighted that suppliers tin beryllium near with unpaid debts from customers who bash not wage their regular bills.

Without the enactment of moving radical onto prepayment meters, these mounting debts would person to beryllium recovered from everyone else's bills.

There are much than 4 cardinal UK households connected prepayment meters.