Energy: calling time on meters

By Richard North - January 20, 2023

In what seems to have become something of a ritual, for a while now when I am not reporting on developments in Ukraine, I am dealing with energy issues and, lately, with the prepayment meters scandal.

To a limited extent, one could argue that the two issues had something in common: in both arenas there is a war going on. In Ukraine, this is a shooting war between the Russians and the Ukrainian people but, in the UK we are dealing with a longer and more insidious war – the one between the establishment and the lower orders.

The latest development in this war on the British people is reported by iNews which tells us that only 72 out of over 500,000 warrants by energy firms to enter homes were refused by magistrates in what the paper called the “prepayment meters scandal”.

The exact number obtained from the Ministry of Justice is 533,760 utility warrant applications, of which only 72 were refused by magistrates, which means that magistrates ran roughshod over the rights of over half a million people, in the most contemptuous of manners.

In fact, the situation is even worse than painted. In response to a written question by SNP MP Kenny MacAskill, ironically named justice minister, Mike Freer, released separate data on Wednesday afternoon going back to 2020. These show that only 135 warrants have been refused in more than 920,000 cases since the start of that year.

Here, the establishment represents a strain of authoritarianism that regrets feudalism ever ended and does its best to ignore or negate what pathetically few freedoms and rights the hoi polloi have managed to acquire. Unfortunately, this is matched by an unhealthy deference in the population which empowers the elites to abuse their positions.

Although we are told by iNews that customers have described calling the police on engineers trying to force their way into their homes and in some cases prevented them from entering, that only represents a tiny fraction of the number of warrants issued, with the vast majority being successfully executed – as we see from the numbers now on prepayment meters.

In any event, in my experience, it is more often the case that those seeking to execute warrants themselves call the police, who most commonly willingly assist in what are often illegal actions, without bothering or caring enough to find out whether the paperwork is legal.

There is also the issue of the courts, which do not make it easy for people to attend hearings. Freer tells MPs that it is “extremely rare” for energy customers to contest warrants from suppliers seeking to enter their homes.

No doubt that in part stems from the fact that the utility companies routinely break the law by not giving their customers the statutory notice of their intention to apply for warrants – which in itself should be grounds for rejection.

This is an area where the various debt charities could have stepped in, to contest warrant applications and to insist that the officials (and magistrates) obeyed the law. But, in general, the “Uncle Tom” charities tend to be part of the establishment, providing a pressure relief valve to keep the system working, with no real interest in the welfare of the oppressed.

Nevertheless, one might have thought that a constituency of nearly a million is a sufficient number to foment a rebellion against this abuse of authority but rarely do people do anything else but comply. But then it is difficult to take a robust stance – the game is to pick people off, one by one, outnumbering and intimidating them into conformity.

Largely gone are the days when close-knit communities might ensure that individuals could call on the help of their neighbours to see off the importunate officials, but where such cohesion remains – mainly in immigrant communities – they tend to be left alone. The officials are nothing if not cowards.

It is not as if MPs have not known about the problem of disconnection, which has been a political hot potato for many years. But safely buffered by their expense accounts which enable them to claim the bulk of their energy costs, while protected from the wrath of the great unwashed by armed rapists and murderers, they have been slow to take action.

Then, we can’t expect leadership as long as we have a multi-millionaire prime minister who spends vastly more on heating his private swimming pool than most families pay for their annual energy bills.

Living in his Downing Street flat where energy costs are capped and supplies are  guaranteed by a gas-fired generator in the bowels of the Ministry of Defence Building, the energy crisis is a distant, academic issue which has no personal relevance to him – or the chancellor, for that matter.

However, even some of the greedy utility companies seem to have realised that they have gone too far and are rowing back on their enthusiasm for shutting down their domestic consumers.

British Gas, which has a particular reputation as a robber baron, is the latest recruit to the ranks of penitent, pledging to fund a £10 million support package which will see thousands of its most vulnerable customers on prepayment meters given £250 in free credit.

“We know that some prepayment customers are self-disconnecting and not coming forward for help, so we have reviewed our policies to do more to target support at this group” says Chris O’Shea, chief executive of Centrica, parent company of British Gas – weeks after the issue has started to hit the headlines.

That the handout is being fronted by Centrica does not, of course, have anything to do with the fact that the company posted a pre-tax profit of £761 million in 2021 and was recently forecasting a near eightfold increase in full-year earnings after it benefited from soaring energy prices in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A mere £10 million in this instance doesn’t even represent pocket change for a company of this magnitude and wealth, which boasts cash balances in excess of £1 billion. But the situation has shamed chief executive Chris O’Shea into taking just his £775,000 salary for the year, waiving his £1.1 million bonus. Centrica will only have to find less than £9 million for its gesture to its poverty-stricken customers.

British Gas has also said it will stop switching people onto prepayment mode via their smart meters, pre-empting a call by Citizens Advice for the practice to be banned.

Belatedly, the Mirror has reported on this issue, noting also the “mounting pressure” for the practice to be halted. Groups including Fuel Poverty Action and the National Pensioner’s Convention have ramped-up calls, joining the growing clamour.

Predictably, though, not all is sweetness and light, with Utilita CEO Bill Bullen complaining that talk of stopping the forced installation of prepayment meters is “pie in the sky” unless the energy sector has a “grown up conversation” about cost.

This is perhaps an apposite comment as banning prepayment meters does not solve the problem of excessive energy bills and, in any event, utility companies say that, if they cannot recover debt by top-loading meter payments, other customers will have to cover their losses.

There are, however, many other mechanisms for handling utility costs, including changing to a basic, low-rate social tariff for impoverished users, with costs borne by the welfare system. Another partial remedy might include addressing the dysfunctional wholesale electricity pricing system, which contributes substantially to the higher prices.

One gets the feeling though that, as long as this is a problem that only affects the plebs, it is not one which will be given high priority by this government – and certainly not to the extent of seeking a permanent, equitable solution.

In fact, prepayment meters were the preferred solution where, largely, the plebs could be induced to suffer in silence without generating pesky disconnection statistics to embarrass ministers. Now, at long last, time is being called on this option. Ministers will have to find another way of screwing the ever-compliant masses.