The Department is still not doing enough to ensure that support reaches the two million consumers on prepayment meters. Those on prepayment meters are typically on more expensive energy tariffs due to the cost of the systems used to run the meters. Two million households in Great Britain on traditional prepayment meters need to redeem vouchers to claim their £400 payment through the EBSS. These consumers tend to be poorer and are more likely to be in arrears on their energy bills and can be unaware of national and local initiatives to reduce fuel poverty. As we warned in November 2022, however, some vulnerable customers, such as those on prepayment meters, faced extra challenges in accessing the support designed to help them with their bills. By the end of January 2023, 76% of vouchers issued to households to support them with their energy bills had been redeemed. The Department is working on increasing this figure, although the responsibility of ensuring households on prepayment meters redeem their vouchers also sits with suppliers. We are concerned that recent media coverage has also brought to light unacceptable practices of suppliers forcing entry into vulnerable customers’ homes to install prepayment meters, often as a result of consumers falling behind on payments. Recommendation 2: The Department should set out, as part of its Treasury Minute response, its analysis of which groups of households have not redeemed their vouchers and what further action it will take to increase the redemption rate of vouchers. 6 Energy bills support