Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that Ofgem ensures that consumers in debt to their energy provider are made aware by those providers of the full range of repayment plans available to them.

Through conditions in the supply licence enforced by Ofgem, energy suppliers must offer domestic consumers in debt with their energy bills:

• A means by which payments are deducted at source from a social security benefit received by the customer;
• A weekly or fortnightly repayment plan. Suppliers must also take a customer’s ability to repay into account when setting a repayment schedule;
• To install a prepayment meter, where it is safe and reasonably practicable to do so. Again suppliers must take a customer’s ability to repay into account when setting a repayment schedule.

Ofgem monitors suppliers’ behaviour and if they do not comply with these conditions then Ofgem can take enforcement action. For example, British Gas improved its debt recovery procedures following the launch by Ofgem of an investigation into the company’s compliance of SLC 27.8 in 2011.