British Gas has agreed to pay £20m into a redress fund and compensate customers to settle an investigation by the energy regulator into the forced fitting of prepayment meters.
Ofgem found the company had “failed to meet the standards required” when installing the meters and had breached licence conditions specifically aimed at protecting customers in vulnerable situations.
Three years ago it emerged that debt agents working for British Gas had broken into the homes of vulnerable customers to fit prepayment meters.
British Gas has apologised, and the complete settlement package will cost the company up to £112m in payments, compensation and writing off customers’ debt.
