British vitality regulator Ofgem has ordered all suppliers to droop the follow of forcibly putting in prepayment meters after an investigation alleged brokers performing on behalf of British Fuel had damaged into weak clients’ properties to suit such gadgets.

Ofgem chief govt Jonathan Brearley mentioned vitality suppliers wanted to “reassure” the regulator that their processes for shifting clients on to prepayment meters had been “compliant with all Ofgem guidelines and, till that is achieved, we’ve got requested them to pause pressured installations”.

The transfer got here after an undercover reporter from The Occasions witnessed brokers for a third-party contractor engaged on behalf of British Fuel breaking into the house of a single father of three younger kids to suit a prepayment meter.

The investigation additionally supplied proof of a number of different circumstances the place such a meter had been fitted within the properties of weak clients below a courtroom warrant, regardless of Ofgem’s guidelines stipulating that such gadgets couldn’t forcibly be put in within the properties of individuals “in very weak conditions”.

“It’s astonishing for any provider to not find out about their very own contractors’ behaviour, particularly the place they’re interacting with essentially the most weak in our society,” Brearley mentioned. Ofgem has launched an investigation into British Fuel, Britain’s greatest vitality provider.

Chris O’Shea, chief govt of British Fuel proprietor Centrica, apologised on Thursday for the “deeply disturbing” allegations relating to its third-party contractor, Arvato Monetary Options, and mentioned it had suspended the follow of pressured instalments till “at the very least” the tip of the winter.

Organisations together with Residents Recommendation, the buyer charity, had lengthy known as for a ban till new buyer protections could possibly be launched.

Most clients pay for his or her vitality after it has been used, generally by direct debit, however client teams have detected an increase in suppliers forcing households on to dearer prepayment meters in the event that they fall into arrears.

Enterprise secretary Grant Shapps mentioned he had summoned Centrica for a gathering with vitality minister Graham Stuart following the publication of The Occasions’ investigation.

Talking on Radio 4’s Right this moment programme on Thursday, O’Shea known as the practices unearthed by the investigation “utterly unacceptable” and “deeply disturbing”, including that “there’s nothing that may be mentioned to excuse” the actions reported in The Occasions.

Centrica had commissioned an unbiased report so it may get to the “backside of what went incorrect”, O’Shea mentioned. The third-party contractor had “allow us to down”, O’Shea mentioned, however he conceded that he was in the end accountable.

Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the Finish Gasoline Poverty Coalition, a bunch of charities, native authorities and commerce unions, mentioned the federal government additionally wanted to research the function of the courts in issuing warrants to vitality suppliers. Authorities figures present greater than 536,000 warrants had been issued between July 2021 and the tip of December 2022.

A separate investigation by the i newspaper in December alleged that warrants had been typically being signed off quickly in giant batches and that magistrates typically had little oversight of consumers’ vulnerability.

“What we’re actually involved with is the function of the courts in all of this and that’s [outside] Ofgem’s remit,” mentioned Francis. “That’s why we really feel there must be one thing extra complete.”

Gillian Cooper, head of vitality coverage at Residents Recommendation, mentioned it was “actually stunning to see the extent of dangerous practices amongst some vitality suppliers”.

“Our frontline advisers know solely too nicely the determined conditions so many struggling clients have discovered themselves in,” she added. “Time and time once more we’ve got known as for a ban on pressured prepayment meter installations till new protections for purchasers are introduced in.”

The investigation comes forward of Centrica’s full-year outcomes this month when it’s anticipated to report a near-eightfold rise in earnings. Its fuel manufacturing, vitality buying and selling and nuclear energy divisions have benefited from hovering commodity costs within the wake of Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

Arvato mentioned it acted “compliantly always in accordance with the regulatory necessities within the areas wherein we’re operationally energetic. In doing so, we respect and cling to the laws of Ofgem in addition to different regulatory our bodies.”

However it added: “If there was any verbal or every other kind of misconduct by particular person workers, we deeply remorse it.”