British Gas will stop using an outside firm that fitted compulsory pre-payment meters at customers in debt after a public backlash.
(Bloomberg) — British Gas will stop using an outside firm that fitted compulsory pre-payment meters at customers in debt after a public backlash.
An investigation found a “limited number of cases” the firm could learn from but there were “no systemic issues,” Centrica Plc, which owns UK’s biggest household energy supplier, said in a statement on Thursday.
The internal probe was commissioned earlier this year after allegations that agents working for British Gas forced the devices on vulnerable customers struggling to pay their bills. Soaring rates and a severe cost-of-living crisis in Britain forced millions of households into fuel poverty over the winter.
The job to deal with pre-payments — a nationwide practice initially designed to help energy users avoid racking up bills they can’t afford — will now be handled by its own staff, British Gas said.
British Gas had already suspended force-fittings of prepayment meters, before regulator Ofgem last month published a new code of rules for all suppliers. They are now banned from using the devices in households of severely ill people or those over the age of 85.
A vast number of people will continue to struggle to pay their bills and a social tariff for energy would be a step in the right direction, Chief Executive Officer Chris O’Shea said in the statement.
The watchdog has said it expects to receive a separate external audit report of British Gas’ policies and practices in June.
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