Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if her Department will take steps to ensure that households which use prepayment meters do not pay higher charges than households which do not use such meters.

Suppliers are required under the terms in their supply licence to ensure that differences in charges for different payment methods, which include the use of prepayment meters, reflect the costs they face to provide that payment method.

Across the market the prices of prepayment meter tariffs are now largely the same as those of standard variable tariffs and we are starting to see more improvements in the pre-payment meter market with the development of smart meters, for example E.ON is currently piloting a Smart Pay-As-You Go tariff for customers using a smart prepayment meter who then pay the same prices as the company’s direct debit customers and they expect to make the tariff more widely available to new and existing customers from next year.