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'It's ridiculous how they can get away with this' Debt collectors fitting households with pre-payment meters

Campbell Bronze from Bartley Green had a pre-payment meter fitted whilst he was away.

Price changes are a big worry for most of us - but even more so if you're on a pre-payment meter.

So imagine being one of those people who were forced to switch over to a meter - by firms who broke in to homes.

People like Campbell Bronze from Bartley Green.

Debt collectors working for British Gas fitted a pre-payment meter in his home - while he was away on holiday.

Our reporter Laura Chiverton has been speaking to him:

BACK ANNO: We've had a statement from British Gas which refers to the debt collectors they used, called Arvato and it says:

"We鈥檙e sorry to hear about this, we鈥檒l be in touch with the customer to look at how we resolve this and we鈥檒l take all of the appropriate action. The allegations around our third-party contractor Arvato are unacceptable and we immediately suspended their warrant activity. We are conducting our own in-depth investigation to understand exactly what鈥檚 happened and where we find things have gone wrong, we will put them right. We will also be fully co-operating with Ofgem on their investigation. We only install pre-payment meters under warrant as a last resort after聽all other options have been exhausted."

This practice has now been suspended and the regulator Ofgem is investigating and they've called on all suppliers to switch people back and pay compensation where rules were not followed.

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