The Shadow Secretary of State criticised the Government for failing to act promptly on prepayment metre installations and asked about the duration of the pause, compensation schemes, a minimum power supply system, and windfall tax loopholes. He also highlighted recent reports indicating thousands affected by forced installations.

The MP questioned why further powers are not being given to Ofgem to ensure that British Gas and other companies cannot continue forcing installations into homes, protecting the sanctity of people's homes.

The MP criticised the situation and called for a radical overhaul of prepayment metre systems due to their perceived unfairness and impact on vulnerable users. She asked whether energy should be considered a human right.

Welcomes the stopping of forced prepayment metres but highlights that premium tariffs paid by those on prepayment metres is unjust. Asks Ofgem to look at this matter.

Disappointed with the Minister's reply on a minimum level of supply and asks when he will make energy companies do it.

Asks about the legality of the process for issuing warrants for prepayment metre installations, questioning lack of judicial oversight.

Asks for an apology from the Government, removal of prepayment metres, and compensation for those affected.

Highlights flaws in the process of bulk warrant applications, suggesting potential perjury by energy company representatives.

Points out injustice towards vulnerable people being charged higher rates for energy.

Asks about the extent of the investigation into historical poor practices.

Describes a constituent's situation of losing home due to prepayment metre issues.

Highlights minimal refusal rate in warrant grants, questioning immediate redress for affected families.

Questions the fitness of Ofgem in light of potential supplier misrepresentation.

Criticises the Government's approach to the issue and demands immediate action to stop forced installations.

I hope I can be coherent, because I am so angry. People with disabilities and their families face a monthly cost in excess of £600 a month for a single person and over £1,000 for a family with a disabled member in it. Right throughout this cost of living and energy crisis, they have suffered more than double the amount that normal households have. The Minister says he wants to focus on suppliers who are not doing things correctly, but I want you to focus on people who are—

According to information from the Ministry of Justice, on 1 February The Times published a story revealing that British Gas routinely sends debt collectors to break into customers’ homes and forcibly fit pay-as-you-go metres, even when those customers are known to have extreme vulnerabilities. Is this not just another example of the Government’s failure to regulate our broken energy market?

I am not sure that the Minister answered the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East (Anne McLaughlin) on this, so I will try again. Does he think that access to energy and electricity should be a fundamental human right?

The Government’s job is to govern, but for months and months the Minister has been sitting on the sidelines watching this car crash happen, and it is the people of our country who are paying for that. Why does he not bring forward legislation right now to ensure that people on prepayment metres do not pay a different tariff from everyone else and that the other corrections can be put in place?

Almost one in five households in Scotland are off the gas grid. Fuel poverty and the use of prepayment metres are greatest in those areas because those households are reliant on unregulated fuels and on electric heating systems, which have always been more expensive. Will the Minister recognise that additional burden, regulate those additional fuels and provide sufficient support in those areas for insulation and alternative heating systems, as well as financial support? The crisis there is even greater due to the double whammy of people being off the grid and in fuel poverty.

It should not take a journalist going undercover for the Minister to finally decide to wake up. I have been campaigning on prepayment metres since 2015, and the Government are still relying on energy companies to do the right thing. They are not going to do the right thing, so the Government need to force them. We have seen how quickly the Government can put legislation through. Can I ask the Minister to confirm three things? First, in addition to providing compensation, will he remove prepayment metres from vulnerable households? Secondly, will he make prepayment metres cheaper per unit of energy? That is when the energy companies will start changing how they act. Thirdly, the cost has been significantly reduced due to smart metres, so the energy companies cannot use that as an excuse, but the scandal of smart metres is that energy companies can switch people remotely. Will the Government ensure that that can no longer happen and is outlawed?

Analysis by Citizens Advice Cymru indicates that around a third of prepayment users in Wales have been disconnected at some stage during the past year. Furthermore, there has been a threefold increase in the number of consumers being switched to prepayment metres. Do those stats alone not indicate that there is a real issue with the way in which energy companies use prepayment metres?

My constituent had fallen into arrears with ScottishPower, but he was complying with his repayment plan when ScottishPower demanded the full settlement of his debt in December. When he could not do that, he was forced on to a prepayment metre, which of course compounded the problem. I have two questions. First, the Minister has mentioned that only 30% of the most vulnerable are on prepayment metres. I would like to know when that data is from, because it would be useful to have a more up-to-date figure than that; I struggle to believe that is still the case. Secondly, if energy companies are forcing the installation of these prepayment metres, can the Minister give the House an assurance that it will not be the vulnerable customers who end up footing the bill—that those costs will be absorbed by the massive profits that the energy companies will make—and that prepayment rates will be on par with other energy rates?

We have heard that the people who are struggling most to pay their energy bills are often the most vulnerable in our society, and they are being forced on to a higher tariff. We have also heard that the appeals system is cumbersome and people may even lose their house. The Minister has blamed the utilities companies and Ofgem, neither of which have covered themselves in glory. He has even blamed the previous Labour Government, of 13 years ago. Does he not think that perhaps now is the time that this Government should take their responsibility?

I thank the Minister for his answers. Does he not agree that this treatment of customers—of the disabled, pregnant women and single parents with young children, some of whom were in hospital when they were moved to prepayment metres—if not already illegal, should be? What further steps will he take to prevent the big companies from being able to trample all over the little man and the little woman, not simply in this one aspect, but in the overall treatment of the ill and the vulnerable?