Citizens Advice responds to Ofgem's announcement on compensation for PPM customers

29 May 2025 12:51 PM

Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, responded to Ofgem's PPM compensation announcement 

“The prepayment meter scandal must never be allowed to be repeated. As energy bills soared, suppliers broke into homes with no warning to force installation of prepayment meters, while those with smart meters were remotely switched to prepayment mode. It resulted in tens of thousands of people unable to afford to keep their meters topped up, often with devastating consequences.

“We know the rules weren’t always followed by some energy suppliers, and that loopholes were exploited. While it’s right that those rules have been tightened, it’s also vital that consumers get compensation for the distress that was caused.

“The framework announced by Ofgem will help rebuild much-needed trust in energy suppliers. But three years on from this scandal, suppliers must work quickly to make sure those who were worst affected receive the compensation they deserve.”

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Notes to editors:

Citizens Advice is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.

In January 2023, our Kept in the Dark report found: 

• 1 in 3 (33%) people on prepayment meters said that they had disconnected at least once in the past year because they could not afford to top up. This equates to more than 3 million people, or 1 person every 10 seconds.
• Nearly 3 in 10 (27%) of those struggling to top up their
• prepayment meter, over 850,000 people, are disconnecting from their energy supply at least once a week.
• 1 in 5 (19%) prepayment customers who had been disconnected from their energy supply in the past year said they had disconnected for more than 24 hours at least once. Nearly the same proportion (18%) of households which include a disabled person or someone with a long-term health condition were disconnected for more than 2 days at least once.

In 2022, we helped 36,152 people who couldn’t afford to top up their prepayment meter. In 2023 we helped 27,351 people who couldn’t afford to top up their prepayment meter.

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Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and postal markets. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers. 

You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.