British Gas ends contract with PPM fitter

British Gas will no longer outsource forced installations of prepayment meters (PPM).

The energy supplier has announced that it will instead fit PPMs under court warrant in-house, following the publication of its internal investigation into forced installs.

Until now the process has been outsourced to Arvato Financial Solutions Ltd.

Arvato was the subject of a Times investigation into the wrongful installation of PPM meters in the homes of vulnerable British Gas customers, published in February.

Since then British Gas has been undertaking an investigation into its PPM activities, carried out by independent regulatory compliance consultancy Promontory Financial Services, which has today revealed “no systemic issues” with the process.

However, the report has highlighted a “limited number” of cases where lessons “need to be learned”.

In two of the cases highlighted by the Times, the report said the personal conduct of the Arvato agent “departed” from the required policy and “fell below” the standards expected by British Gas.

In one of the cases the Arvato employee failed to attempt to engage with the customer in the home before proceeding to remotely switch a smart meter to PPM mode.

However, British Gas said that analysis of voice recordings taken on visits to customers’ homes found this conduct to be “unusual”.

Despite falling beneath its standards, British Gas said none of the installations investigated by the Times went against the requirement that the installation of a PPM should be safe and reasonably practicable, which includes the need to assess the impact on the mental wellbeing of the customer.

The report concludes that there is no evidence of any Arvato warrant officer or British Gas engineer entering a customer’s premises without a warrant.

Energy regulator Ofgem suspended PPM installations under warrant following the Times‘ investigation and last month issued a voluntary code of practice which compels suppliers to “refrain from involuntary installations” of PPMs for the highest risk customers, including those over 85, people with severe health issues or people who cannot top up because of physical or mental incapacity.

Suppliers must also carry out an independent audit to identify wrongly installed PPMs before recommencing forced installations.

Chris O’Shea, Centrica’s group chief executive said: “I was deeply concerned when I saw the way some of our prepayment customers were treated earlier this year. It’s not how I want us to do business and I’d like to take this opportunity once again to say how sorry I am and to apologise to anyone involved in cases where our actions fell short of the high standards we set ourselves.

“I’m reassured that the investigation found no systemic issues with the treatment of prepayment customers, but it did highlight areas where we can, and should, do better. We’re already implementing those changes and I hope the action we are taking to improve our approach shows our commitment to doing everything we can to support our vulnerable customers.”

O’Shea also threw his weight behind calls for a social tariff to help customers ahead of next winter.

He added: “The increased cost of food, rising interest rates, higher rent and the impact of the energy crisis on consumer bills means that there is a substantial number of people who will continue to struggle with paying bills for the foreseeable future.

“The introduction of a social tariff for energy would be a significant step in the right direction. The funding of it will be a policy decision for Government but if we can get this right, and deal with the root cause of the affordability crisis, some of the difficult issues around fitting prepayment meters should no longer be necessary.”

O’Shea’s calls for a social tariff echo sentiments within Utility Week’s Action on Bills campaign which calls on government to engage meaningfully on targeted energy bills support ahead of winter and commit fresh funding to help the most vulnerable.

British Gas’ investigation analysed 321 cases, including the 49 involving the Times journalist, in order to be able to draw statistically robust conclusions.

Just over 90% of the sample were considered to be compliant with the necessary requirements for installations.

Installation proceeded in 13 cases despite insufficient information being recorded on how previously documented vulnerability considerations had been discussed with the customer.

Another 13 cases contained insufficient data in order to be able to make a conclusion.

Meanwhile in two cases where customers had physical vulnerabilities it was decided that a PPM installation should not have been completed.

In 2022 92,000 warrants were issued for PPM installations, with 58,300 progressing to a visit in person to the customer’s home. A PPM was only installed in 20,469 cases.