Prepayment meters are the most expensive way to purchase gas and electric in the UK and there are 4.5 million customers paying upfront in this way. The meters have daily standing charges programmed in, and they can also be adjusted to reflect any debt a consumer has built up in the past. Effectively, some of the most vulnerable people in the UK find themselves stuck with a prepayment meter and the energy price rises mean they’ll have to find £500 a month more to stay warm this winter. It’s estimated that around 300,000 consumers who use prepayment meters are in debt and therefore will be paying unit prices higher than the capped rate to reflect this. To add insult to injury, Shell customers on prepayment meters have been charged more than they should and will need to be refunded. Having said all that, some people do prefer prepayment meters because they don’t want to run up large bills and risk debt, but generally prepayment meters are installed due to non payment of energy bills. So, it looks like we’re going to see a massive increase of people on prepayment meters this Winter.