The debt collection agency that force-fitted prepayment meters for vulnerable British Gas customers made a third of all warrant of entry applications in England and Wales last year, the Guardian can reveal.
Arvato Financial Solutions, a company used by the energy supplier to pursue debts, made 122,536 applications to gain entry into homes last year – and had just 11 rejected.
Last month Arvato was found to have ignored signs that British Gas customers were vulnerable and force-fitted prepayment meters, accoridng to an investigation by the Times. British Gas then suspended its work with Arvato and the practice of fitting meters under warrant has temporarily been banned.
Amid sky-high household bills, charities and campaigners condemned the practice, arguing that it has left millions of households cut off from heat and power, and unable to top up their meter.
Data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), obtained via a Freedom of Information request, showed that just 1% of the 371,081 applications made by private companies were rejected in 2022.
Magistrates have been accused of simply rubber-stamping applications for the warrants after it emerged that a handful of courts were batch-processing hundreds of warrants in just minutes.
The MoJ data showed that a cluster of courts – mainly Portsmouth, Leeds, Birmingham, Croydon and Basildon in Essex – were processing huge volumes of warrants of entry for homes across the country.
The figures showed that Portsmouth approved 117,546 warrants in 2022, followed by Birmingham with 41,322 and Basildon with 39,927. Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons and MP for Portsmouth North, has pledged to investigate the process.
Magistrates were ordered to stop issuing warrants allowing energy firms to force-fit prepayment meters in England and Wales. A ban on forced installations from energy regulator Ofgem ends on 31 March, by which time a review of the treatment of vulnerable customers should have concluded.
Energy firms often use debt collection agencies to apply for the warrants and provide warrant officers, who accompany its engineers to fit the meters.
Energy suppliers E.ON and EDF received 22,427 and 15,563 approvals respectively.
The government has been criticised for being too slow to act on the matter. The Guardian revealed that more than 30,000 entry warrants were awarded in January despite calls in mid-December for suppliers to halt installations to prevent vulnerable households from going without heat and power.
The data release comes as MPs prepare to question energy industry bosses over the prepayment meter scandal this week.
MPs on the justice committee and the business, energy and industrial Strategy committee are joining forces to look into the legal and commercial aspects of the forced installations.
On Tuesday the committee will hear evidence from the chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica, Chris O’Shea. Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley is also scheduled to appear.
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The Times reported that Arvato had fitted meters for British Gas with customers including a woman in her 50s described in job notes as “severe mental health bipolar” and a mother whose “daughter is disabled and has a hoist and [an] electric wheelchair”.
On the prepayment meter scandal, O’Shea has previously said: “The contractor that we’ve employed, Arvato [Financial Solutions], has let us down, but I am accountable for this.”
He is under pressure to waive his bonus of up to £1.6m against the backdrop of the prepayment scandal and the energy crisis, which has seen Centrica’s profits soar, thanks to a surge in the price of wholesale gas last year.
Arvato has been contacted for comment. The company has previously said it was “hugely disappointed” by the conduct covered by the Times. “We deeply regret misconduct by individual employees,” it said.
Prepayment meter customers will no longer be charged more to receive their energy under reforms to be announced in the budget.
The chancellor is to end the “prepayment premium” from July, saving more than 4m households £45 a year on their energy bills, according to the Treasury.
