SCOTTISH Gas owner Centrica is under investigation following the use of debt collectors to enforce court warrants for installation of payment meters.

Ofgem has launched the probe after concerns were raised that elderly and disabled people were being forced onto the meters and then routinely cut off from heat and power as they could not afford to top up.

The Centrica action follows an undercover investigation by the Times, whose reporter went with agents working with a company used by British Gas to pursue debts - to the home of a single father with three children.  

Another who had a meter forcefitted included a woman in her 50s described in job notes as “severe mental health bipolar” and a mother whose “daughter is disabled and has a hoist and [an] electric wheelchair”, Centrica said the suspension - where it applied to the court for a warrant to install a pre-payment meter - would last "until at least after winter" and that protecting vulnerable people was its priority.

The Herald: Grant Shapps

The business secretary, Grant Shapps, said he was “horrified by the findings” of the Times investigation and ordered an urgent meeting with British Gas. He said ministers would be “demanding answers to ensure this systemic failure is addressed”.

A spokesman for the regulator Ofgem said: "We are launching an urgent investigation into British Gas and we won’t hesitate to take firm enforcement action.

“It is unacceptable for any supplier to impose forced installations on vulnerable customers struggling to pay their bills before all other options have been exhausted and without carrying out thorough checks to ensure it is safe and practicable to do so.

“We have launched a major market-wide review investigating the rapid growth in prepayment meter installations and potential breaches of licences driving it.

“We are clear that suppliers must work hard to look after their customers at this time, especially those who are vulnerable. The energy crisis is no excuse for unacceptable behaviour towards any customer, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances.”

Chris O'Shea, chief executive of Centrica said the company was horrified that debt collectors had broken into vulnerable customers' homes to fit energy meters.

"This happened when people were acting on behalf of British Gas. There is nothing that can be said to excuse it," Mr O'Shea said.

The Herald revealed poverty campaigners have been calling on ministers to ban the forced installation of prepayment meters fearing people will die as a "staggering" 100 unpaid bill warrants to have the right to enter homes have been been typically lodged every day in Scotland by energy companies in the cost of living crisis.

Energy Action Scotland and the Poverty Alliance joined forces to ask the justice secretary for a hiatus on the procedure in advance of a review as it emerged that an average of at least 16 warrants a day were being approved by courts at the start of last year to forcibly enter homes over unpaid gas and electricity bills.

They also called on Keith Brown to order an examination of the conditions surrounding how warrants are being approved by sheriff courts that allow energy suppliers to access people's homes to install the meters.

The Herald: Keith Brown MSP has praised the Scottish Child Payment scheme which has supported almost 1,500 families in Clacks since February 2021

Court data shows that 32,471 Warrants For Entry were lodged and 4,822 had so far been granted in the first ten months of last year. It has been estimated that the numbers granted is over treble that accumulated for the whole of 2020.

But it is understood that because of difficulties within the court system of recording the number of warrants granted, which relate to a small number of court locations the actual numbers may well be far greater.

Energy firms’ licence conditions provides that a supplier should not disconnect in winter and that disconnection should be a last resort. The safeguards for vulnerable people place the onus on the supplier to ensure the right support is in place for the customer.

But there are concerns that the rise in sanctioned warrants have not considered the vulnerability of those affected.

During last summer there were estimated to be nearly 500,000 Scots customers on prepayment meters, of which 203,484 are smart meters and 294,459 are traditional meters.

It is estimated that over 15,000 Scots households with smart meters were remotely switched to more costly prepayment plans by their energy supplier in 2021. And around 6,000 households were estimated to have been switched over a three month period till November, last year alone.

Scottish Gas has said it will stop switching people onto prepayment meters via their smart meters when they struggle to pay their bills.

As half of all meters in Scotland are old and non-smart, for an energy supplier to complete the process of movement from an older credit meter to prepayment they require a warrant to be issued by courts in Scotland under the Gas Act 1986 and the Electricity Act 1989, which gives suppliers rights to enter a customer's home.

The energy regulator Ofgem is conducting a review into suppliers’ use of prepayment meters.

On Tuesday, its chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, said Ofgem was examining how to close the gap between the cost of energy bills for customers on prepayment meters and those on direct debits but defended suppliers that had forced people on to the meters.

Mr O'Shea said: "The contractor that we've employed, Arvato, has let us down but I am accountable for this.

"This happened when people were acting on behalf of British Gas. There is nothing that can be said to excuse it."

Mr Shapps said: "Switching customers - and particularly those who are vulnerable - to prepayment meters should only ever be a last resort and every other possible alternative should be exhausted," he said.

"These findings suggest British Gas are doing anything but this."