Scottish Power has been granted warrants to forcefully install prepayment meters (PPM), months after the practice was halted over fears of malpractice.
Following major allegations against British Gas over its warrant activity, suppliers agreed to stop forced installs, with the senior presiding judge of England and Wales later ordering magistrates to stop processing warrant applications made by retailers.
However on Thursday (19 October) it emerged that Scottish Power had successfully applied for PPM warrants, with courts running pilot schemes to test the application process.
A Scottish Power spokesperson said: “We are only applying for warrants for customers who have refused to engage with us on repayment after multiple attempts, to agree a repayment arrangement that is affordable to their circumstances.
“At every point in the process, we are ensuring that vulnerability and affordability checks are made, in order to support customers with the debt management advice they need.
“The cost of unpaid bills ultimately falls on all customers and the use of warrants to recover debt is a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted.
“We are committed to adhering to the strict new conditions the regulator has put in place and we will continue to work considerately with customers to help them manage their debt.”
Following the introduction of the moratorium, Ofgem has been strengthening protections for PPM customers and has since introduced a mandatory code of practice for suppliers.
Although Scottish Power has now been granted warrants, Utility Week understands that the supplier has committed to not restart any involuntary installations until it meets Ofgem’s conditions.
These include:
- First, having signed up to the code of practice, suppliers should set out a change plan for how they will implement it, and commission and conclude an independent assessment to verify their readiness.
- Second, suppliers must conduct an internal audit to identify wrongfully installed involuntary PPMs and offer compensation and a return to a non-prepayment payment method to any affected customers for installations in the preceding 12 months of the moratorium.
- Third, supplier boards should attest that the two conditions above are met: that the supplier is ready to restart involuntary PPMs compliant with the code, and that redress will be offered to wrongfully installed PPMs.
- Fourth, if a supplier has met the first three conditions and the initial results of the PPM Market Compliance Review (MCR) have found no major concerns with the supplier’s historical compliance on PPMs, Ofgem will then decide if the supplier can restart involuntary PPMs. If the initial MCR results did find major concerns, Ofgem require evidence that corrective action has been taken to address these concerns before granting permission to restart.
- The fifth requirement of the code is that any supplier granted permission to resume involuntary PPM installations will need to provide regular monitoring data to Ofgem, upon restarting installations, which will help identify any concerning trends regarding involuntary PPM practices.
An Ofgem spokesperson said: “Ofgem put a set of clear conditions in place, which suppliers must meet before they can restart the involuntary installation of PPM.
“To date, no supplier has met those conditions and until they do no warrants to install a PPM should be executed.
“We are aware that courts are running pilot schemes to test the application process for warrants, however our expectation of suppliers is clear.”