The new bailiffs watchdog has urged UK energy suppliers to overhaul their debt collection practices, after British Gas apologised over the forced installation of prepayment meters.
Catherine Brown, the chair of the recently established Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB), is writing to the chief executives of the utilities after it was alleged that a company working for British Gas, Arvato Financial Solutions, had broken into vulnerable customers’ homes.
Hundreds of thousands of homes have been switched over to prepayment this winter after falling behind on their bills amid a surge in energy prices, with the rate of installations significantly ahead of previous years.
The ECB was set up to police the activities of “civil enforcement agents” – the bailiffs used by creditors including local authorities to collect debts such as council tax – and Brown said firms such as Arvato “have not yet come under our oversight”.
But she argued that the British Gas scandal underlined the urgent need for energy companies to ensure anyone involved in enforcement action on their behalf is properly regulated.
“Today’s news demonstrates why it is so important that utilities companies engage with us to ensure that fair treatment is delivered to all their customers who experience any form of enforcement action, including ensuring that vulnerable people are properly identified and supported,” she said.
Brown has so far failed to convince the utilities to agree to use only agents accredited by the ECB to collect unpaid energy debts – a key lever for the new agency, which does not have statutory powers.
“We want to see utilities companies commit to only using enforcement agents which are accredited, with a robust set of standards in place and proper arrangements for independent oversight,” she said. “No one could be in any doubt about the urgency of this, and we will continue to call on the utility companies to ensure that it happens.”
Brown said last month: “I haven’t managed to get any traction yet with the utilities companies, who I really think ought to be very committed.”
The Ministry of Justice has said it will review the operation of the new watchdog after two years and could then hand it statutory powers if it deems these necessary.
The revelations about Arvato’s behaviour, uncovered by the Times, prompted the energy regulator Ofgem to launch an investigation.
Ofgem said it would not “hesitate to take firm enforcement action” against the energy supplier after it was alleged that the firm had broken into homes to fit meters when there were signs that young children and people with disabilities lived in the properties.
British Gas customers who have had their meters fitted by force recently included a mother whose “daughter is disabled and has a hoist and [an] electric wheelchair”, and a woman in her 50s described in job notes as “severe mental health bipolar”.
Government figures show there were 275,000 applications in 2019 for warrants to undertake forced meter installations, and 345,000 applications in the 11 months to December last year.
Graham Stuart, the energy minister, was due to meet British Gas representatives on Thursday afternoon.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “Vulnerable families should not be treated so poorly. The findings suggest that British Gas has failed to use every possible avenue to support those struggling with energy bills, as they rightly deserve and are entitled to.”
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Citizens Advice said this month that 3.2 million people were being left in cold and dark homes as they ran out of credit – equating to one person every 10 seconds.
Separately on Thursday, Ofgem named British Gas among a string of suppliers it said needed to improve their customer service, after an extensive review.
An Ofgem spokesperson said: “It is unacceptable for any supplier to impose forced installations on vulnerable customers struggling to pay their bills before all other options have been exhausted and without carrying out thorough checks to ensure it is safe and practicable to do so.
“We have launched a major marketwide review investigating the rapid growth in prepayment meter installations and potential breaches of licences driving it.”
British Gas has suspended the use of court warrants to force the installation of prepayment meters in response. It had stopped switching people on to prepayment meters remotely through smart meters after complaints about the practice.
Energy UK, the trade body for the energy sector, declined to comment on whether utilities would cooperate with the ECB.
The regulator was set up after debt charities and the trade body for enforcement agents, Civea, agreed to work together to boost standards in the industry. It is to be funded by a levy on enforcement firms.
Charities have been raising concerns about the practices of bailiffs for more than a decade and had become increasingly frustrated at a lack of government action.
