Why the problem of prepayment meters won’t go away for vulnerable energy customers

Published

2 years ago

February 3, 2023

admin

One thing the energy industry agrees on in theory – if not, it turns out, in practice – is that forcing prepayment meters on vulnerable customers is unacceptable.

The widespread revulsion at British Gas debt collectors forcing entry to the homes of families is deserved and universal.

Less clear-cut is what to do about the underlying cause.

The industry calls it the “affordability crisis” but those facing the reality know it simply as poverty.

Forced installation of prepayment meters (PPMs) is a miserable practice that, until the energy crisis, existed at the margins, affecting only the poorest or most reluctant of bill payers.

The explosion in energy prices has pushed it closer to the mainstream.

PPMs are supposed to be a last-resort in response to a challenge that has always faced utility providers; what to do about those households who cannot or will not pay their bills, and who continue to run up unsustainable debt?

Forty years ago, when gas and electricity meters were commonplace and tampering was a criminal, occasionally fatal, offence, affordability was self-regulating. If you did not have 50p to feed the meter the lights stayed off.

In the age of near universal connection the responsibility for balancing ability and willingness to pay, and the right to essential utilities, lies with the energy companies themselves.

It’s an issue the regulator Ofgem has grappled with since its inception.

An ongoing issue for Ofgem

In 2009 it asked suppliers not to disconnect pensioners or any home with under-18s in the coldest months between October and March, and to reconnect anyone inadvertently cut off within 24 hours.

In the last decade PPMs have been the mechanism for managing debt. They are supposed to prevent customers from going deeper into arrears by requiring them to pay upfront with payment cards or emergency credit from suppliers.

In practice they are a digital version of the old coin meters. Those who cannot pay end up self-disconnecting.

Ofgem’s licence conditions have banned forced installation for vulnerable customers since 2018, and “suppliers must not disconnect certain vulnerable customers during the winter, or disconnect anybody whose debt the supplier has not taken all reasonable steps to recover first by using a PPM”.

That was plainly not the case in the British Gas examples highlighted by The Times, but it should be said even Ofgem believes PPMs have a place.

Support for prepay meters

Its chief executive Jonathan Brearley told MPs this week they were a reasonable recourse for customers who can pay but will not.

Underlying that is the reasonable assumption that suppliers should get paid, and that they have a responsibility to ensure customers do not run up unsustainable debts.

The practical challenge of the current crisis is straining those principles.

The energy industry and charities estimate up to 40% of households are spending more than 10% of their income on energy.

Ofgem’s own figures show close to one million people are in arrears on electricity payments and nearly 800,000 for gas, with no agreed plan to manage debt reduction.

The least well-off customers are routinely offered payment plans or emergency credit, around half of which is never repaid.

Retail suppliers privately say they cannot afford to offer such support on the scale that may currently be required.

Industry sources say the collective debt book is thought to run to around £2.5bn – around £2bn of which is considered bad debt.

The week that Shell announced profits of more than £32bn is a tough one in which to plead poverty, but the retail industry is separate from energy production, with regulated prices that have seen almost 30 companies forced out of business in the last 18 months.

A watershed moment for those in the market to reconsider?

That’s why, with wholesale prices falling, suppliers are calling on government to cancel a scheduled reduction in energy support that will increase prices, and distress to the poorest households, from April.

There’s little question that for those on the receiving end, forced installation of a PPM is a dehumanising bureaucratic device.

It’s possible too that anyone who runs up unsustainable debts heating their home satisfies a definition of vulnerability.

The industry-wide pause on using court warrants gives everyone with a stake in the market a chance to reconsider and may prove a watershed but there are no easy options or solutions.

Ofgem has recently argued for a subsidised social tariff, offering cheaper rates to defined vulnerable groups. The review of PPMs may also ask if it is ever okay to allow someone to be cut off.

Water companies cannot turn off the taps, but if the same applied to energy, how can commercial supply be sustainable in a medium term of elevated energy costs?

A meaningful review will have to examine the court process, which since the cost of living crisis has seen magistrates asked to approve hundred of warrants at a time and take suppliers at their word that due diligence has been done.

Unless government legislates to remove suppliers right to access customers homes the court process will be central to reform.

Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea said this week that the plight of his energy customers was symptomatic of a wider affordability crisis for basic essentials, including housing.

As the man ultimately responsible for British Gas’s actions he may not be the most sympathetic witness, and the answer can never be to drill the locks of the disabled, but he had a point.

Business

Bosses of Octopus Energy and SSE clash over ‘postcode pricing’ proposals

Published

2 hours ago

June 17, 2025

admin

Bosses of Octopus Energy and SSE clash over 'postcode pricing' proposals

The head of Britain’s biggest energy supplier has claimed his competitors oppose proposals for so-called postcode pricing because they financially benefit from the current system.

Octopus Energy chief executive Greg Jackson told Sky News his business’s rivals were against customers being charged based on where they lived, rather than on a national basis, because they would lose out on profits.

He said: “A very small number of companies that today get paid tens of millions, sometimes in a single day, to turn off wind farms and generate gas elsewhere, don’t like it.

“The reason you’re seeing that kind of behaviour from the rivals is they are benefiting from the current system that’s generating incredible profitability.”

The government is currently considering whether to introduce the policy, which is also known as zonal pricing. Energy secretary Ed Miliband is expected to make a decision on the proposals by this summer.

Money blog: Millions may wait months for payouts in Mastercard case

Octopus has become Britain’s biggest supplier with more than seven million customers.

Mr Jackson has been a vocal proponent, as he said he wants to charge customers less and boost government electrification policies by having cheaper electricity costs.

What is postcode pricing?

Sarah Taaffe-Maguire

Business and economics reporter

@taaffems

Zonal pricing would mean electricity bills are based on what region you live in.

Some parts of Britain, like northern Scotland, are home to huge energy producers in the form of offshore wind farms.

But rather than feeding electricity to local homes and businesses, power goes into a nationwide auction and is bought to go across Britain.

As the energy grid is still wired for the old coal-producing sites rather than the modern renewable generators, it’s not straightforward to get electricity from where it’s increasingly produced to the places people live and work.

That leads to traffic jams on the grid, blocking paid-for electricity moving to where it’s needed and a system where producers can be paid a second time, to power down, and other suppliers, often gas plants, are paid to meet the shortfall.

Zonal pricing is designed to prevent paying the generators for power that can’t be used.

It would mean those in Scotland have lower wholesale energy costs while those in the south, where there is less renewable energy production, would have higher wholesale costs.

Whether bills go up or down depends on implementation.

Savings from one region could be spread across Britain, lowering bills across the board.

Mr Miliband has said he’s not going to decide to raise prices.

However, SSE’s chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies described the policy as a “distraction” and said it could affect already agreed-upon upgrades of the national grid that will lower costs.

“I think you’ve got a very, very small number of people who are asking for this. It’s just a distraction. We should remove it now,” he said.

While Octopus Energy estimates that said postcode pricing could be introduced in two to four years, Mr Phillips-Davies said it could take until 2032 before it was implemented, by which time Britain would have “built much of the networks that are required to get the energy from these places down into the homes and businesses that actually need it”.

“We just need to stay true to the course,” he added.

Unions, as well as industry and energy representatives, have also spoken out against the policy. Opponents include eco-tycoon Dale Vince and trade body UK Steel.

A joint letter signed by SSE, UK Steel, Ceramics UK and British Glass, along with the unions GMB, Unite and Unison, said zonal pricing could lead to scaled-back investment due to uncertainty and higher bills.

A separate letter signed by 55 investors, including Centrica and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, has also criticised the policy.

However, Mr Jackson said many investors had not voiced opposition, with thousands of small and medium businesses instead backing the policy in the hope of paying less on energy bills.

Business

Poundland shake-up will see 68 stores and two distribution sites shut

Published

10 hours ago

June 17, 2025

admin

Poundland shake-up will see 68 stores and two distribution sites shut

The new owner of the discount retailer Poundland has revealed proposals to close 68 stores and two distribution centres under a shake-up that will also see frozen food and online sales halted.

Gordon Brothers, the investment firm which snapped up the struggling brand for a nominal sum last week, said its recovery plan “intended to deliver a financially sustainable operating model for the business after an extended period of under-performance”.

The plans are understood to be leaving 1,350 jobs at risk.

Money latest: £150 compensation for thousands of energy customers

It currently employs 16,000 people across the business.

Poundland said it was also seeking store rent reductions more widely under the plans.

Sky News reported on Monday that if creditors backed the restructuring, with a vote expected in late August, 250 of Poundland’s sites would also see their rent bills reduced to zero.

Poundland said its future focus would be on profitable stores, with its web-based operations becoming confined to browsing only.

As a result of the new priority, along with a shift away from most chilled and all frozen products, the company said it would no longer need its frozen and digital distribution centre at Darton in South Yorkshire.

It was to shut later this year.

Poundland also planned to close its national distribution centre at Bilston in the West Midlands early in 2026.

The retailer said it expects to end up with between 650 and 700 stores after the overhaul – assuming it achieves court approval.

It currently runs around 800 stores across the UK and Ireland but stressed Irish shops, which trade as Dealz, have not been affected.

Poundland’s struggles in recent years have included increased competition, poorly-received stock and rising costs.

Its managing director, Barry Williams, said: “It’s no secret that we have much work to do to get Poundland back on track.

“While Poundland remains a strong brand, serving 20 million-plus shoppers each year, our performance for a significant period has fallen short of our high standards and action is needed to enable the business to return to growth.

“It’s sincerely regrettable that this plan includes the closure of stores and distribution centres, but it’s necessary if we’re to achieve our goal of securing the future of thousands of jobs and hundreds of stores.

“It goes without saying that if our plans are approved, we will do all we can to support colleagues who will be directly affected by the changes.”

Business

US-UK trade deal ‘done’, says Trump as he meets Starmer at G7

Published

11 hours ago

June 17, 2025

admin

US-UK trade deal 'done', says Trump as he meets Starmer at G7

The UK-US trade deal has been signed and is “done”, US President Donald Trump has said as he met Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 summit.

The US president told reporters: “We signed it, and it’s done. It’s a fair deal for both. It’ll produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.”

As Mr Trump and his British counterpart exited a mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies where the summit is being held, the US president held up a physical copy of the trade agreement to show reporters.

Several leaves of paper fell from the binding, and Mr Starmer quickly bent down to pick them up, saying: “A very important document.”

Sir Keir said the document “implements” the deal to cut tariffs on cars and aerospace, adding: “So this is a very good day for both of our countries – a real sign of strength.”

Mr Trump added that the UK was “very well protected” against any future tariffs, saying: “You know why? Because I like them”.

However, he did not say whether levies on British steel exports to the US would be set to 0%, saying “we’re gonna let you have that information in a little while”.

What exactly does trade deal being ‘done’ mean?

The government says the US “has committed” to removing tariffs (taxes on imported goods) on UK aerospace goods, such as engines and aircraft parts, which currently stand at 10%.

That is “expected to come into force by the end of the month”.

Tariffs on car imports will drop from 27.5% to 10%, the government says, which “saves car manufacturers hundreds of millions a year, and protects tens of thousands of jobs”.

The White House says there will be a quota of 100,000 cars eligible for import at that level each year.

But on steel, the story is a little more complicated.

The UK is the only country exempted from the global 50% tariff rate on steel – which means the UK rate remains at the original level of 25%.

That tariff was expected to be lifted entirely, but the government now says it will “continue to go further and make progress towards 0% tariffs on core steel products as agreed”.

The White House says the US will “promptly construct a quota at most-favoured-nation rates for steel and aluminium articles”.

Other key parts of the deal include import and export quotas for beef – and the government is keen to emphasise that “any US imports will need to meet UK food safety standards”.

There is no change to tariffs on pharmaceuticals for the moment, and the government says “work will continue to protect industry from any further tariffs imposed”.

The White House says they “committed to negotiate significantly preferential treatment outcomes”.

Mr Trump also praised Sir Keir as a “great” prime minister, adding: “We’ve been talking about this deal for six years, and he’s done what they haven’t been able to do.”

He added: “We’re very longtime partners and allies and friends and we’ve become friends in a short period of time.

“He’s slightly more liberal than me to put it mildly… but we get along.”

Sir Keir added that “we make it work”.

The US president appeared to mistakenly refer to a “trade agreement with the European Union” at one point as he stood alongside the British prime minister.

Mr Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on countries in April. At the time, he announced 10% “reciprocal” rates on all UK exports – as well as separately announced 25% levies on cars and steel.

In a joint televised phone call in May, Sir Keir and Mr Trump announced the UK and US had agreed on a trade deal – but added the details were being finalised.

Ahead of the G7 summit, the prime minister said he would meet Mr Trump for “one-on-one” talks, and added the agreement “really matters for the vital sectors that are safeguarded under our deal, and we’ve got to implement that”.