Energy bills: Magistrate quits over force-fitting meter warrants

By Anna Collinson & Dearbail JordanA magistrate has said he quit after being left unable to check vulnerable people were being protected when energy firms sought warrants to force-fit prepayment meters.

However, they are required to have exhausted all other options first and should not do so for vulnerable customers such as the elderly and those with young children. In 2019, warrant applications reached 278,966 and 1,824 refusals were granted, according to the Ministry of Justice. In 2022, applications for warrants hit 367,140 and there were just 56 refusals.

Higher energy prices have pushed up inflation which in the UK stood at 10.5% in December, close to a 40-year high.Mr Cantrill-Fenwick said: "Energy companies are making far too many warrant applications when they should only be used very exceptionally." "If an application is contested, the warrant will not be granted by the magistrate and the magistrate will list the case for a contested hearing to determine whether or not it should be granted."

'Individuals who wish to contest or challenge an application still have the opportunity to have their case considered by magistrates.” Surely this only works when people know in advance, but in the case highlighted this week the customers had no idea this was coming.

Should be imprisoned.

Respect

The courts have a lot to answer in all this

I mean, the better course of action would be to refuse the request from the energy companies 🤷🏻‍♂️

Take our energy production back into public ownership. These Machiavellian corporations need to be stopped, they're out of control.

So why didn't he quit years ago when this first started. Another handwringing attention seeker.

Man quits larping as judge.

I'm switching from British Gas regardless of cost, purely out of outrage at the treatment of the most venerable in our society and anyone with a sense of moral duty will join me! 😎

'When I started, the energy companies would come to court and we would be able to question the applicant. 'We could establish whether there might be young children in the premises or people who were clinically vulnerable. We could, and would sometimes, decline a warrant.'

Funny because prepayment meters have been rubber-stamped for being installed in low income council homes for decades

Thought we were a democracy, yet being forced to install certain meters

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