Money Matters: Compensation agreed over forced installations of pre-pay meters
In this week’s Money Matters column, Wrekin’s debt and energy manager Dan Bebbington sets out how much compensation you could get if you’ had a pre-payment meter fitted against your will.
More than 40,000 people who had pre-payment meters force-fitted are set to get compensation from their energy suppliers.
The announcement from industry regulator Ofgem is the latest development in the pre-pay meter saga, which saw all suppliers banned from installing them without the occupiers’ permission (known as involuntary installations) in 2023.
For some this means the supplier obtaining a warrant to enter your home to carry out the installation, but for those with smart meters they can be switched over to pre-pay mode remotely.
Ofgem has since permitted some suppliers to re-start the practice, if they agree to a strict new set of rules, while others are still banned.
It has now announced that a total of £5.6 million will be given out to customers who had pre-pay meters wrongfully installed between 1 January 2022 to 31 January 2023, before the ban was introduced.
The payouts will go to customers of Scottish Power, E.On, EDF, Octopus, Utility Warehouse, Tru Energy, Good Energy and Ecotricity. Other suppliers, including British Gas, Ovo and Utilita, are still under investigation.
Compensation amounts start at £40 for the more minor cases, rising to £250 for customers who received unfair treatment or insufficient debt support. In the more serious cases, £500 will be issued to customers whose vulnerabilities were not adequately considered, and £1,000 to those who should never have been switched.
On top of this, £13 million of affected households’ energy debt will also be written off.
If you’re affected, you don’t need to do anything. Your energy supplier will contact you.
The decision follows an investigation prompted by reports of energy suppliers forcibly installing the meters in vulnerable households without adequate consideration of their circumstances.
The scandal came to light during the energy cost surge of 2022, which led to increased instances of missed bill payments and aggressive debt recovery tactics by suppliers.
Under Ofgem’s new rules, suppliers have to make at least 10 contact attempts and conduct a welfare visit before fitting a pre-payment meter. Force-fitting is now permitted only for firms compliant with these updated standards.
Worried about your energy bills or debt, or can’t afford to top up a pre-pay meter? Speak to your supplier as early as possible so they can offer tailored support, or contact a charity like National Energy Action.
Wrekin Housing Group customers can also access our free energy advice service, in partnership with the Cadent Foundation.
5th June 2025