ONE in six prepayment energy customers has gone without gas or electricity because of high costs, problems with topping up or faulty meters, a study has found.
Today is the start of the industry's winter moratorium on disconnections for vulnerable customers and those with young children, but Citizens Advice has called for suppliers, the Government and Ofgem to look into those on prepayment meters.
It found 1.6 million prepayment customers "self disconnected" their supply every year and had no protection from the "stark choice of top up or drop out" over the winter.
The charity said half of those who disconnected their supply last year (54 per cent) were seriously concerned about being able to afford to top up their gas or electricity meter this winter - up by six per cent since 2010.
It found some were going without gas or electricity because of rising prices and unstable incomes, while reduced working hours, loss of employment, illness or a change in benefits could lead to not having enough money to cover day-to-day costs.
Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: "Going without gas or electricity is a grave necessity, not a choice.
"The budgets of many prepayment meter users are stretched so thin that not topping up their energy meters for a few days, or even weeks, is the only way to get by.
"It is very concerning that, as temperatures start to drop and the nights draw in, some prepayment consumers will be living in cold, dark homes because they can't afford to put money on their meters.
"Energy companies are doing the right thing by putting a freeze on disconnections for vulnerable households but industry, Government and the regulator need to look at how this can be extended to prepayment consumers too.
l TNS surveyed 14,226 prepayment customers in 2013/14.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article