One person every 10 seconds is cut off from their energy supply.

In 2022 Citizens Advice saw more people who can't top up their prepayment meter than in the whole of the last 10 years combined.

As 2022 energy prices soared, 3.2 million people across Great Britain ran out of credit on their prepayment meter and cut off from their energy supply. For more than 2 million of these people, this was a monthly occurrence. And more than one in five (19%) of prepayment customers spent at least 24 hours without gas or electricity.

This is a particularly critical issue for disabled people and those living with long-term health conditions whose access to heating and basic functioning amenities is vital to their health and survival through the bitter winter season.

Rona is disabled and lives with her daughter who has special educational needs. They spent Christmas without heating or electricity.

Rona’s supplier switched her smart meter to prepayment mode with no prior warning. She assumed there was a power cut, and spent the night without heating or lighting. It wasn’t until she came into one of our offices and we spoke to her supplier did she find out that they had switched her to prepayment mode.

“I explained that I was on the priority services register. I also said I’m in a wheelchair and unable to access my meter, but none of it made a difference. I’m now reliant on my sister or her husband to go to the post office to help me top up my meter.”

“Over Christmas I went without energy because the credit ran out, and the post office was closed, so my daughter and I sat there cold, in the dark. How can I live like this?”

The energy regulator, Ofgem, has rules that means certain groups, such as disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, should not be forced onto a prepayment meter. 

Today, Citizens Advice reveals that in the month following Ofgem’s intervention more than a third of prepayment meter households including a disabled person, or someone with a long term health-condition, were cut off from their energy supply at least once. That’s more than 470,000 struggling households left in the dark.

Citizens Advice is now calling for a total ban on forced prepayment meter installations until new protections are introduced, ensuring households can no longer be fully cut off from gas and electricity.

You can check out the National Citizens Advice Press Release on this matter for further information.