Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will instruct Ofgem to require energy companies to halt all new installations of prepayment meters, including remote switching of smart meters.

Ofgem is the independent regulator and is directly accountable to Parliament. The Government has no plans to instruct Ofgem to halt all new installations of prepayment meters. Ofgem requires specific protections for vulnerable consumers and those in payment difficulty. Prepayment meters are only installed if it is ‘safe and reasonably practicable’ to do so. Prepayment meters enable customers to control and budget for the amount they spend and help mitigate the risk of going into, or exacerbating, existing debt.