Prepayment meters
What are they?
Prepayment meters (PPMs) are widely used in the UK, especially in rented properties. Instead of paying a steady monthly bill by direct debit, PPMs are pay-as-you-go, usually by topping up a card or a key at a local shop to insert into your meter.
Some of us prefer to budget this way, often we have never known any different. However, prepayment meters come with dangers. When your meter runs out, everything clicks off without warning – the home is plunged into darkness, water stops during a shower, your fridge-freezer loses power while you sleep or your landline phone turns off in an emergency. These occurrences are at best a nuisance but, particularly for elderly or disabled people, can be deadly at worst.
Forced PPMs
Everyone should have choice and access to a method of payment that is safe and suitable for them. But if, like millions of people in the UK right now, you can’t afford your energy bills and fall into debt, your supplier may attempt to force you onto a PPM. Suppliers do this by obtaining warrants to break into homes, but nowadays can also switch smart meters to prepayment remotely.
If you are facing this issue, help is available from Citizens Advice.
Campaigning
FPA has campaigned for years against the forced imposition of PPMs. Our campaigning has exposed the scandal and helped win millions in compensation.
We have disrupted a British Gas Annual General Meeting (AGM), held Warm Up protests in buildings including the British Museum and Scottish Parliament, and delivered a giant PPM to the door of the Department of Energy Security.
In February 2023, following months of campaigning in response to energy suppliers breaching regulations and forcibly installing PPMs en masse, FPA helped force the government to place a suspension on the practice. This remained in place across the energy sector for 11 months, but during 2024 and 2025 Ofgem has been granting permission to individual suppliers to begin forced installations again if they are deemed to have met new, weak regulations.
In May 2025, energy firms agreed to pay £18.6 million in compensation and debt write-offs for more than 40,000 people after campaigning exposed the suffering caused by forced installations.
FPA is continuing to demand the government ban forced PPMs.
Read article: Compensation for forced prepayment meter victims announced!
Compensation for forced prepayment meter victims announced!
Victims of forced prepayment meter installations will receive compensation, after campaign pressure. Stu considers how we got here and what needs to happen next.
Read more about Compensation for forced prepayment meter victims announced!
Read article: Free energy isn’t a utopian dream – it’s possible now
Free energy isn’t a utopian dream – it’s possible now
Ruth looks at how the scandal of curtailment – paying windfarms to turn off – is just one example of the deeply entrenched, deliberately designed unfairness in our energy system. She tackles the question of how to build a system which works for all of us, not just a wealthy few, and lays the groundwork for a new phase in Fuel Poverty Action’s Energy For All campaign.
Read more about Free energy isn’t a utopian dream – it’s possible now
Read article: The problem with means testing
The problem with means testing
No one can say it’s ok for thousands of people to die every year from fuel poverty. But lots of people say that instead of Energy For All, the government should subsidise energy prices for people on low incomes. They say this would target help where it is needed most, on people without the means […]
Retrofit for the Future campaign launches
There’s no time to lose to fight fuel poverty and climate disaster.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with the Peace and Justice Project, ACORN, Greener Jobs Alliance and CACC to campaign for three key interventions in the retrofit debate: accountability for retrofit work, protecting renters and skilling up our workforce.
Compensation for forced prepayment meter victims announced!
Victims of forced prepayment meter installations will receive compensation, after campaign pressure. Stu considers how we got here and what needs to happen next.
Read more about Compensation for forced prepayment meter victims announced!
Hydrogen as a False Low-Carbon ‘Solution’
The Labour Government’s plans for a low-carbon transition are not fit for purpose. FPA member Lee Towers has put together this factsheet, which outlines what hydrogen is and why it is not an efficient or cheap solution to home heating.
