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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is his Department's policy that energy companies should be able to install pre-payment meters in homes without (a) notice and (b) homeowner permission; and whether he has made a recent estimate of how many times this has happened to people who are in hospital in the last 12 months.

The energy regulator Ofgem has rules in place that restrict the force-fitting of a prepayment meter on those in arrears, except as a last resort.

Ofgem rules further require energy suppliers to assess whether installing a prepayment meter, including the remote switching of a smart meter, is safe and reasonably practicable for the customer. This assessment should include identifying any vulnerability.

Ofgem has published a letter to suppliers on the issue here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/letter-suppliers-november-2022.