Home > News > Campaigns > The ‘Prepay Rip Off’ campaign

Nia Griffith MP and Dawn Butler MP have this week launched Labour’s ‘Prepay Rip Off’ campaign in Wales to call on energy companies to deliver fairer tariffs for users of gas and electricity prepayment meters.

Currently customers paying for their gas and electricity through prepayment meters are spending between £260 and £330 a year more than those on the cheapest direct debit tariffs.

Prepayment meter customers are often in poorly paid jobs and many are put on prepayment meters to help them to budget; it is therefore outrageous that tariffs for prepayment meters users are so much higher than those for direct debit customers.

Nia says: “The figures are staggering: a fifth of all households in Wales, some 273,000, are on prepayment meters. I believe that the energy industry is currently discriminating against these customers. We need reforms to the energy market to stop firms from overcharging. We have a situation where some of the most vulnerable – including the elderly, and those in financial need are paying more for their fuel than anyone else. This is outrageous and we are therefore calling on energy companies to act urgently to put this injustice right

As part of Labour’s ‘Prepay Rip Off’ campaign, we want to see the following changes:

  • Cuts to the cost of prepayment meters in line with the cheapest direct debit fuel tariffs
  • An end to debt collection during the winter
  • Measures in place to ensure that homes with pensioners, disabled people and children don’t have prepayment meters fitted
  • An end to installing prepayment meters during the winter
  • The prioritising of prepayment customers in the smart meter UK rollout.”

The campaign petition has gained over 6,000 signatures and it can be signed here. https://www.change.org/p/david-cameron-mp-end-the-prepay-rip-off-prepay-fuel-bills-cost-226-a-year-more-than-direct-debit

Move your mouse over the interactive map below to see the pre-pay rip off.