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British Gas debt agents made applications to force-fit prepay meters

The Guardian has revealed that the debt collection agency that force-fitted prepayment meters for vulnerable British Gas customers made a third of all warrant of entry applications in England and Wales last year.

Arvato Financial Solutions, a company used by the energy supplier to pursue debts, made 122,536 applications to gain entry into homes last year – and had just 11 rejected.

Last month Arvato was found to have ignored signs that British Gas customers were vulnerable and force-fitted prepayment meters, according to an investigation by the Times. British Gas then suspended its work with Arvato, and the practice of fitting meters under warrant has temporarily been banned.

Amid sky-high household bills, charities and campaigners condemned the practice, arguing that it has left millions of households cut off from heat and power and unable to top up their meters.

Data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), obtained via a Freedom of Information request, showed that just 1% of the 371,081 applications made by private companies were rejected in 2022.

Magistrates have been accused of simply rubber-stamping applications for the warrants after it emerged that a handful of courts were batch-processing hundreds of warrants in just minutes.

The MoJ data showed that a cluster of courts – mainly Portsmouth, Leeds, Birmingham, Croydon and Basildon in Essex – were processing huge volumes of entry warrants for homes nationwide.

The figures showed that Portsmouth approved 117,546 debt warrants in 2022, followed by Birmingham with 41,322 and Basildon with 39,927. Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons and MP for Portsmouth North, has pledged to investigate the process.

Magistrates were ordered to stop issuing warrants allowing energy firms to force-fit prepayment meters in England and Wales. A ban on forced installations from energy regulator Ofgem ends on 31 March, by which time a review of the treatment of vulnerable customers should have concluded.

Energy firms often use debt collection agencies to apply for warrants and provide warrant officers, who accompany their engineers to fit the meters.

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