Report slams high prepaid meter energy costs

15/06/2009

A shock new report shows that some of Britain's most vulnerable households have overpaid for their gas and electricity by £460 million in the last three years.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) said that people who paid by pre-payment meters are being unfairly highly charged by suppliers.

This is despite the fact that many people on meters only use this method because they do not have access to others.

For example, people who don't have a bank account cannot set up a direct debit or online deal - despite these commonly offering far better value gas and electricity tariffs.

Regulator Ofgem was fiercely criticised in the NHF report.

It is claimed that suppliers are breaking EU rules with the high charges - and that the watchdog is not doing enough to prevent these breaches from taking place.

NHF chief executive David Orr said: "Ofgem has been asleep on the job, and it must urgently start defending the rights of ordinary people, instead of protecting the profits of big business.

"As a way of compensating pre-pay customers for the historic overcharging, Ofgem has a moral duty to go beyond the EU directives, and force the energy companies to equalise prepay meter prices with those for quarterly bills."

Tags; Housing Debt and Bills, Young Family Finances, Retirement Money Problems,

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