FUEL POVERTY RELIEF AS BACK CHARGING ENDS

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 6th Dec 2006

Commenting on the decision by British Gas to stop back charging their token prepayment users when prices rise, Paul Holmes, Liberal Democrat MP for Chesterfield said: "Fuel poverty is a serious danger to the health and wellbeing of vulnerable households and back charging has significantly contributed towards the hardship of low income households.

"Vulnerable households on low incomes often use prepayment meters to budget and then find themselves in debt through no fault of their own. Energy companies are slow to reset meters and some try to recover their money by back charging customers. Families who have budgeted carefully using prepayment meters, not only have to deal with huge increases in fuel bills since 2003 but also with debts of hundreds of pounds that they were not expecting.

I have strongly supported energywatch's campaign against back charging, and I am delighted that British Gas has now joined EDF Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy in saying it will not apply a debt when it recalibrates a meter.

The remaining companies using this unfair practice must now stop and charge all their customers fairly."

energywatch Director of Campaigns, Adam Scorer, said: "This is good news. About 150,000 British Gas prepayment consumers will no longer get the shock of an unexpected, undeserved debt. energywatch and Citizens Advice have been calling for all companies to take this step and we are delighted that British Gas has listened to us. However, three of the big six suppliers - Scottish Power, Powergen and Npower - must now get into line; they are effectively punishing some of their most vulnerable consumers because those consumers are, through no fault of their own, dependent on archaic technology and poor service."