Terminally ill people are returning home from hospital or a hospice to discover their energy supply has been cut off, the Commons heard today.
Ministers have been urged to outlaw self-disconnection for anyone on prepayment meters to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable customers are not left without basic energy provision this winter.
Self-disconnection happens when a consumer with a prepayment meter does not have enough money to top up their meter and their meter cuts out, or when they do not realise that credit is running out.
Opening a backbench business debate on the issue in the Commons, SNP's Anne McLaughlin said: "People who have returned home after a lengthy stay in hospital or a hospice try to top up the prepayment meter and discover that the large sum they have topped up by just isn't enough, and why?
"Because every day they were in that hospice they have racked up daily standing charges. They weren't there. They didn't use gas or electricity. But they have got this big debt to pay off before they can even access heat or light.
"Worse, their daily standing charges (on prepayment meters) are higher than our daily standing charges (via direct debit).
"When you consider that the average cost of an electricity bill can rise by 75% for someone who is terminally ill, it is doubly unfair."
Ms McLaughlin called on the big six energy companies to ensure people stop being forced into "self-disconnection" from their energy supply if they cannot afford to top up their pre-payment meters.
Similar calls were also made by Labour, with shadow business minister Alan Whitehead highlighting how people with energy prepayment meters, who are often on low incomes, are charged more than those on direct debits.
He said: "There's a whole area here where there's a group of customers that we allow to be ripped off much more easily than other people in the energy sphere.
"It's something that needs action very urgently.
"I hope the Government will state this afternoon that there should be a moratorium on further warrants for putting people on to prepaid meters at least for the duration of the energy crisis as we see it at the moment."
Alba Party MP Kenny MacAskill told the Commons: "This euphemism of self-disconnection has to be killed once and for all. That is not a phrase that we should accept. That is enforced austerity, poverty, misery and sometimes even death.
Business minister Kevin Hollinrake insisted prepayment meters have a role in "helping people to budget and then reduce the chances of people getting into debt or indeed that debt increasing and things getting worse".
However, he said the Government is listening to consumers and the industry.
Mr Hollinrake added: "We are providing a substantive support package via the Energy Bills Support Scheme and the Energy Price Guarantee.
"Ofgem, the regulator, has set robust regulatory protections for consumers on prepayment meters. We are committed to providing the support and protections necessary to ensure consumers and the industry will thrive in the decades to come."
