Ofgem’s voluntary code on prepayment meters seems a bit of a mess
A voluntary code on involuntary installations sounds like a muddle. That impression is reinforced when reading the detail of Ofgem’s attempt to put a stop to some energy suppliers’ thuggish approach to fitting prepayment meters.
You have to be aged 85 or over and living alone, or be extremely incapacitated or severely or terminally ill, to be in the “high risk” category that Ofgem says should never have a meter installed forcibly. Why set the age cut-off as high as 85? There was no explanation.
Meanwhile, the “medium risk” category, for which the new code of practice prescribes “further assessment required by suppliers on a case-by-case basis” – not an outright ban, in other words – includes medical conditions that would strike most people as severe, or probably potentially so. Try Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, learning difficulties and respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
How will assessments of such “medium risk” indebted customers be made in practice? Will British Gas et al be expected to recruit medical specialists to judge whether an 84-year-old with Alzheimer’s, say, could be harmed if he or she is unable to top up the unwanted new meter for whatever reason? Strange as it sounds, the regulator seems to imagine something along those lines. The code says welfare officers must be present or contactable in what Ofgem calls “edge” cases.
It would surely be simpler and fairer to impose a simple ban on forced installations, and remote switching of smart meters, for disabled people, as urged by the disability equality charity Scope.
The suppliers, or some of them (Ofgem is still investigating), are the primary villains, we
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