Council set to debate prepayment meters scandal
Norwich City Council will become one of the first local authorities to formally debate the prepayment meters scandal.
Papers for the Council meeting on 31 January include a motion lodged by Green councillor Lucy Galvin.
The motion calls for the Council to step up its work to support vulnerable households on prepayment meters and to urge the central government to do more to help.
Energy Secretary Grant Shapps has recently announced that the Government will look to ban the forced transfer of homes onto prepayment meters. Norwich political leaders will be asked to write to the minister to express their concerns about recent investigations by the media which revealed energy firms have secured almost 500,000 court warrants to install traditional pre-payment meters.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice show that Norwich Magistrates court granted 25 warrants in 2022, and refused none. This represents a huge increase, as no warrants were granted or refused in the city in 2020 and 2021.
With reports suggesting that many of these court applications are approved in bulk, the Council leaders will also be asked to write to Norwich Magistrates Court to ask what processes magistrates followed prior to granting energy firms warrants of entry.
The motion goes on to call for more information about how magistrates could be sure these households were not classed as vulnerable and what sanctions magistrates can take if it is found that energy firms did not complete vulnerability assessments on customers before applying for a warrant.
Cllr Lucy Galvin, leader of the Green group, commented:
“Prepayment meters could cost customers in excess of £200 more for their energy this winter and so the Council must use all communications methods at its disposal to explain, inform and continue to underline to residents that they do not have to accept a prepayment meter.
“Council resources are stretched, but we also need to make extra attempts to ascertain which city council tenants have prepayment meters, especially those who might be at extra risk of being cut off, and monitor them to offer assistance, for example through housing officer and other support.”
Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:
“3.2m pre-payment customers have been cut off from keeping themselves warm and sadly it is falling to councils to pick up the pieces caused by the delays in central Government action on this issue and the inadequate nature of support for vulnerable people.
“Figures for the Warm this Winter campaign found that 64% of pre-payment meter customers are vulnerable, with 51% having health conditions or disabilities. A third are now living in cold, damp homes posing a health risk to themselves and their families.
“The fact is that none of these vulnerable customers should be on pre-payment meters in the first place.”
The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has called for a ban on the forced transfer of customers to all kinds of pre-payment meters and a Government inquiry into energy firms practices around pre-payment meters.
Mark Hitchcock, Chief Executive of Norfolk Citizens Advice said: “We have seen a doubling of the need for energy advice in Norwich this year and the increase is accelerating – there is no plateau. People are coming off deals and bills are going up while budgets are going down. Figures show that across the east of England 13% of people with meters are facing disconnection once a week or more, which is the highest of all regions. We are very concerned that more and more clients are falling into deficit budgets and that the end of planned support in March 2023 needs urgent reconsideration.”
