Energy suppliers have agreed to a ban on forcibly installing prepayment meters in the homes of customers over 85 and will make representatives wear body cameras, the Guardian can reveal.
Suppliers have agreed to a new code of conduct in dealing with installing prepayment meters for customers who have racked up energy debt.
As a result, they will now have to make at least 10 attempts to contact a customer – and conduct a “site welfare visit” before a prepayment meter is installed.
Customers who are forced on to a prepay meter either physically or through their smart meter being remotely switched on to prepayment mode will be given £30 of credit initially to reduce the risk of them being immediately removed from supply.
The move comes in response to the winter scandal over the installation of prepayment meters under entry warrants that were being approved en masse.
The practice of forced installations was later banned after the Times reported that debt agents working for British Gas were ignoring signs that customers were vulnerable and fitting the meters, which can lead customers to be regularly cut off losing access to light and heat.
The Guardian understands that the regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, will announce at 7am on Tuesday that all energy suppliers in England, Scotland and Wales have signed up to a code of conduct that sets out the practices they should adhere to when fitting the meters, which are designed to gradually recover debts a customer has accrued.
Suppliers have agreed not to fit meters for customers over 85 or anyone with a terminal illness. Those with health conditions such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis and sickle cell disease, which would be worsened by living in a cold home, will also be exempt from such an installation.
Sources said debt agents working for suppliers would also be required to wear body cameras or audio equipment to ensure the rules were being followed.
The regulator has also asked suppliers to identify where meters were wrongfully installed and to return the supplier to their previous tariff and offer compensation.
The Ofgem chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, is expected to remind suppliers that forced installations are a last resort and the code of conduct represents a minimum standard.
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Brearley is expected to say that he wants chief executives of energy suppliers to “treat their most vulnerable customers as they would want their own loved ones to be treated”.
Suppliers have called for social tariffs, which research has estimated could save 12 million households on the lowest incomes up to £1,500, to be implemented as a long-term solution to protecting vulnerable households.
The Guardian revealed this month that energy suppliers have struggled to identify which of their customers are vulnerable and that awareness of priority service registers designed to protect them is low.
Ofgem was approached for comment.
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