British Gas Pays £20 Million, Writes Off £70 Million Debt Over Forced Prepayment Meters
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · May 15
British Gas Pays £20 Million, Writes Off £70 Million Debt Over Forced Prepayment Meters
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 15
£20 million will go into a redress fund after British Gas agreed to settle Ofgem’s probe into the forced fitting of prepayment meters.
Up to £70 million of vulnerable customers’ energy debt will also be written off, with part of that relief treated as compensation.
The settlement follows revelations three years ago that debt agents working for British Gas broke into vulnerable customers’ homes to install the meters.
Ofgem later investigated the practice and banned non-consensual prepayment meter installations in high-risk households; British Gas has apologized for the scandal.
Is British Gas's £90M settlement a meaningful penalty or a distraction from the UK’s £4.55 billion energy debt crisis?
As UK energy debt spirals towards £7 billion, why was a profit-funded £1 billion relief scheme for households rejected?
With a social tariff stalled and prices set to rise, can the UK's energy affordability crisis be solved before next winter?