Ofgem has extended the duration of Standard Licence Conditions 28.10 to 28.13 of the electricity and gas supply licences, continuing protections for consumers who may have a prepayment meter (PPM) installed under warrant. A warrant is a court order allowing an energy supplier to enter a customer's home even if the customer refuses. The extension came into force on 21 May 2025 and will continue to have effect until 30 June 20271.
The conditions cover three things. There is a prohibition on suppliers using warrants in certain exceptional cases: suppliers should not install a PPM under warrant for debt where the process would be severely traumatic to the customer or any member of their household due to their mental capacity and/or psychological state. There is a prohibition on levying warrant-related costs where either the consumer's vulnerability has significantly impaired their engagement during the debt recovery process or where the costs would exacerbate a consumer's existing financial vulnerability. In all other cases there is a £150 cap on the total amount of costs associated with a warrant that a supplier can recover, which includes the application and execution of the warrant, but not installation of a PPM1.
Ofgem introduced restrictions on suppliers exercising a warrant and recovering costs, a cap on warrant costs, and a proportionality principle for domestic customers in the debt recovery process in 2018. Most of these provisions had a sunset clause linked to the original smart meter rollout completion date of December 2020, on the basis that warrants would become unnecessary once consumers had smart meters, which allow remote switching without the supplier needing access to the home. In 2020 Ofgem extended the duration of the restrictions to 30 June 2025 to align with a refreshed framework of the smart meter rollout1.
"The extension comes into force today and will continue to have effect until 30 June 2027"
Ofgem said it does not think it appropriate to carry out a full review of the protections at this time. It gave three reasons: the unprecedented events in the energy market and society since 2020 have left many households struggling to pay for energy due to the ongoing cost of living crisis; progress on smart meter installations and performance has not yet met targets, and completion of the roll-out was a key condition against the original warrant protections; and, given the uncertain economic and energy market environment, it considers it prudent to review the protections alongside debt recovery practices and price cap operating costs more widely1.
On smart meters, Ofgem said the current government installation target framework aims to achieve smart meters in at least 74.5% of domestic premises by the end of 2025, but that many suppliers have failed to achieve their respective installation targets, meaning there is still a proportion of consumers at risk of warrant activity. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is considering what future policy will look like after the current target framework ends1.
Ofgem said it remains concerned that removing the warrant cost cap could see a return to inconsistent and excessive costs for consumers in vulnerable situations, and that the cap remains substantial enough to incentivise customer engagement with their supplier to arrange a debt repayment plan while also incentivising suppliers to exhaust all other options before the application and execution of a warrant. It said the price cap adequately accounts for the cost of warrant activity, and that price cap allowances are inflation linked1.
Why it matters for households
The protections sit inside the wider set of prepayment meter and vulnerable customer rules that govern how suppliers pursue energy debt. For a household facing a warrant, the practical effect is that the £150 ceiling on recoverable warrant costs stays in place for another two years, and that in defined circumstances a supplier cannot recover those costs at all or cannot install a PPM under warrant. The disconnection, warrants and forced prepayment installation rules and the moratorium on involuntary prepayment meter installations set out how these fit with the pause Ofgem asked suppliers to observe in 2022, when it said it had concerns for the most vulnerable consumers for whom a PPM may not be a safe option. Some suppliers restarted involuntary installations from January 2024 under revised rules introduced in 20231.
The extension also bears on how a home pays for its energy. Prepayment is generally the most expensive way to pay under the price cap rates by payment method, and debt recovered through a meter reduces the credit available for ongoing use, as covered in repaying energy debt through a prepayment meter. Ofgem's stated reasoning ties the extension to slow smart meter progress: where a meter cannot be switched remotely, a supplier may still need access to the home, which is the situation the warrant regime addresses. The forced prepayment meter rules and the question of whether a smart meter can be switched to prepayment without consent cover the remote-switching route that the original sunset clause assumed would be available.
What happens next
Ofgem said it notified stakeholders in March 2025 of its intention to extend the protections and will engage with stakeholders on them before the rules expire in 2027. It said it will continue to monitor outcomes for PPM consumers, including the number of warrant installations, through its monitoring of Social Obligations Reporting data, and will monitor compliance with its rules on involuntary PPM installations under SLC 28 of the gas and electricity supply licences1. The letter was signed by Beth Martin, Director, Consumer Protection and Competition1.