Tens of thousands of Brits are set to receive payouts of up to £1,000 each after they were forced to install prepayment energy meters at home.
Energy firms are paying out more than £70million in compensation and financial support after watchdog Ofgem found they were forcibly switching customers to paying upfront after they fell behind on their bills.
In some cases, the regulator found this was being done without the consent of customers - sometimes by switching their smart meters to prepay tariffs remotely - and particularly affected vulnerable customers.
The practice was exemplified at its worst by agents acting on behalf of British Gas, who were observed using court warrants to demand entry into the homes of indebted customers in order to force them onto prepayment meters.
Revelations of the practice, detailed in a newspaper investigation in early 2023, sparked outrage and led to the practice being suspended. However, some firms have been given permission to resume force-fitting of meters.
