Forced installations of prepayment meters halted as courts ordered to end issuing warrants

The top judge in England and Wales has intervened after a two-month investigation by i found magistrates granted more than 500,000 forced entry warrants

https://inews.co.uk/news/forced-installations-prepayment-meters-stop-courts-ordered-2130401



Magistrates in England and Wales have been ordered to stop processing applications for warrants to force entry into homes to install prepayment meters. Lord Justice Edis, the senior presiding judge of England and Wales, told magistrates in new guidance issued on Monday morning they “must act proportionately and with regard to the human rights of the people affected, particularly any people with vulnerabilities”.

While magistrates rely on the oath of debt agents forcibly entering homes, he said: “It has now come to light that Ofgem has become sufficiently concerned at the opperation of suppliers as to ask all energy companies to suspend forced installations of prepayment meters, to ask all suppliers to review their activities, and to carry out a comprehensive investigation into one supplier.

“In light of that, applications for warrants of entry for the purpose of installing a prepayment meter should, with immediate effect, cease to be listed and no further such applications are to be determined until further notice.” The ruling follows a two-month-long investigation by i which found that magistrates have granted more than 500,000 warrants allowing energy firms to for entry into homes, with courts granting hundreds of them in just minutes.

The investigation revealed how one court in Northern England granted 496 warrants in three minutes and 51 seconds, with the Magistrates’ Association saying it had “no choice” but to approve them. i also revealed how courts have refused only 72 out of 500,000 applications, which cost just energy firms just £22 each.

snip