FUEL poverty campaigners have demanded an immediate ban on the “devastating” imposition of pre-payment metres on customers struggling to pay their bills.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition says profiteering energy companies are obtaining magistrates’ court warrants to enter people’s homes and forcibly install the meters — and that people could die as a result.

Energy companies made 187,000 applications for court warrants in the first six months of this year, according to the coalition, which it said it believes that magistrates are simply “rubber-stamping” such applications without examining cases individually.

Gas and electricity supplied with a pre-payment meter costs more than with other payment methods, and if the meter is not fed with money, energy supplies are cut off.

The coalition says companies are forcibly installing the meters to protect their revenue, not to help customers cope, and that customers will sometimes “self-disconnect” by simply not using energy.

Good Law Project executive director Jo Maugham said companies “are applying to the already overstretched courts for tens of thousands of warrants a month to force their way into people’s homes to fit pre-payment meters.

“This puts people at risk of self-disconnecting and the health risks of cold, dark, damp homes. This is unacceptable and we are exploring legal routes to put a stop to it.”

Ruth London of Fuel Poverty Action said: “Imposition of a pre-payment meter is disconnection by the back door. When you can’t top up the meter, everything clicks off, regardless of whether you are old, ill or have a newborn baby. 

“Imposing it is violent, and in the present situation, it is likely to swell the numbers of excess winter deaths.”

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “If people don’t keep their homes warm, they are at risk from the severe health complications of living in a cold, damp home and those who are elderly, disabled or have pre-existing medical conditions are especially vulnerable this winter.”

The coalition has called on the government and Ofgem to ban both the forced installation of pre-payment meters and switching of smart meters to pre-payment and to introduce debt write-off schemes.

An Energy UK spokesman said: “Suppliers are required to have exhausted all other options and followed a series of checks before installing a pre-payment meter by warrant.”