Prepayment meter customers need 'affordable energy'

One in six people living in homes with prepayment meters have experienced having their energy supplies cut off in the past year.

This could be a concern for landlords that are letting properties with prepayment meters.

Research by Consumer Focus also found that half of the 1.4 million homes that have been cut off are occupied by someone with a disability or an illness.

In addition, around two in five households affected have children under 16.

Close to half of all the people surveyed said that they had been unable to pay for electricity during winter.

Around three in five said that the costs were too high for them to manage to top up regularly, while around 75 per cent of households had made savings on other essentials such as food simply to have energy.

The consumer campaign group has called on energy suppliers to address the issue, in order to help tenants and homeowners who may be struggling with the cost.

It called for improvement in how meters are topped up and for energy reductions to be targeted at more vulnerable households that are already in receipt in benefits.

As more families move into the private rented sector because of the deficit of social housing, concerns about prepayment meters are likely to rise.

Posted by Luella Ravelin

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