Disconnecting from prepay meters hits vulnerable people the hardest
140,000 households regularly can’t afford to top up their prepay meter, forcing them to go without an energy supply
New research shows self-disconnecting from prepay gas and electric hits vulnerable people — like families with children, or people living with long-term health issues — the hardest. People in this situation are more likely to disconnect from their prepay meter, which can have a negative impact on their physical and mental health.
‘Self-disconnection’ is defined as interruption to electricity or gas supply by people using prepay meters because the card or key has not been topped up and inserted into the meter.
In 2014 we found 15% of prepay meter users had self-disconnected. The 2017 figure is the same, showing there’s been little progress on the issue in the past 3 years.
Being disconnected from their energy supply means people aren’t able to wash, cook or stay warm, and this is a big problem that many people face on a weekly basis . It’s even more likely that people will be forced to self-disconnect when they need it most, like during periods of particularly cold weather, because they will be using more energy and will be unable to afford to top up.
And people who self-disconnect are less likely to seek help. The study shows that few people in this group contact an organisation for help.
“A major daily concern”
50% of people who use prepay meters say keeping the meter topped up is a major concern. Half took steps to stay connected such as reducing their energy usage. Tom* , who lives alone in a council property, said:
“That’s really stressful if you run out of electric. Imagine, if you put yourself in your home and you’ve got no electric and you’ve got no gas so you’ve got no heating. You’ve got no entertainment, there’s nothing to do. You’re just sitting there waiting for the next day to come or until you can contact somebody. You feel depressed, you feel anxious, feel annoyed, all sorts of emotions.”
Our data reflects this. Of those people who self-disconnected, 17% felt ashamed, and 12% felt depressed.
1.9 million people are regularly self-disconnecting
Around 1 in 7 households have a prepay meter, and our research shows not being able to top up and self-disconnecting is a regular occurrence for 1.9 million people.
This can have serious consequences for those people who are forced to disconnect. Of those people we surveyed:
- just under half said self-disconnection had a negative impact on their lives
- 2 in 5 (41%) reported health issues, with most common being asthma and mental health issues
- 7 in 10 households classified as vulnerable report that disconnecting harms their health
- 59% said they felt cold
- 2 in 5 said their home was dark
Affordability and debt are major causes
1 in 5 people who disconnect (21%) do so because they can’t afford to top up (around 320,000 people). 120,000 are waiting for their benefits.
Jane,* who has dyslexia and mental health problems, had her employment support allowance stopped after failing a work capability assessment. She also had water and TV licence arrears, and was being chased by bailiffs for an old credit card debt, and eventually ran out of money to let her top up her prepay meter.
Jane’s local Citizens Advice were able to get her a fuel voucher from her local council and help with her benefits and debt issues, but there are many more people out there in similar situations.
Debt on a prepay meter is also a key driver. 40% of people with debt on a prepay meter self-disconnected (versus 13% without debt). Consumers are stuck, where any additional money will go towards paying their debt on the meter, but won’t get heating or lighting back on.
Debt repayment through a prepay meter can prevent bigger debts building up. But it poses real day-to-day challenges. Will* was on a zero-hours contract and finding it hard to make ends meet.
He hadn’t used the gas in 2 years and standing charges had built up, leaving a debt of £162. He tried to put some money on the gas prepay meter key but it was taken towards the debt. The weather was getting colder going into winter and he didn’t have any heating. He wasn’t able to wash and felt increasingly isolated.
What needs to happen next
Far too many vulnerable people — in households with children or those with health conditions — are going without energy because they can’t afford to top-up their meter. And 90% of those going without energy for this reason are the households who need warmth and light the most.
This suggests there is much more to do communicate what help is available from suppliers. Energy UK are set to undertake a detailed review of how the industry should respond to vulnerability.
We believe a key priority for this work should be to provide a clear and meaningful commitment to how suppliers will respond if someone asks for help. If successful this will provide reassurance to people that suppliers should be the first port of call if they’re struggling to pay for their energy.
We’d like to see the following steps put in place to reduce the harm caused by self-disconnection:
- Energy suppliers should review processes for identifying if a household is at risk of harm from self-disconnection before a prepay meter’s installed.
- Where vulnerable people are put onto prepay meters, suppliers should use new opportunities offered by smart meters to ensure they stay on supply.
- DWP and Jobcentres should improve coordination with suppliers to ensure vulnerable customers are given help to prevent self-disconnection.
*We’ve changed the names of people in our case studies to protect their identities
