According to Ofgem, 1,500 individuals have received compensation from energy companies for the involuntary installation of prepayment meters over the past year, amounting to £342,450.
The regulator revealed that energy suppliers are preparing additional payments, averaging £200 each, for approximately 1,000 more customers following the assessment of over 150,000 forced installations.
Last year, Ofgem initiated a market compliance review (MCR) concerning customers subjected to prepayment meter installations without consent between 1st January 2022, and 31st January 2023.
Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband criticised the government’s handling of the situation, denouncing the low compensation figures and the reliance on suppliers to determine redress.
Mr Miliband said: “A year after the government promised full compensation for those facing the scandal of forced prepayment meter installations, which saw widespread self-disconnection and vulnerable people left without heating during the cold winter months, they have utterly failed to carry through on their promise.
“It is appalling that so few people have been given compensation, that suppliers were allowed to mark their own homework and to decide what redress to offer.
“This is a government that allowed the prepayment meter scandal to occur under its noses and has now added insult to injury by failing consumers once again.”
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