Investigation: Why British Gas has been breaking into customers’ homes
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2023
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A Times journalist went undercover to show that British Gas obtained court warrants to break into customers’ homes to force fit prepayment meters. The investigation led to immediate responses from the company, the regulator and from government. So how did the investigation unfold?
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Guest: Paul Morgan-Bentley, Head of Investigations, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips: Times Radio, Sky News, BBC, Parliament.
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Transcript
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| 1:08.2 | Sometimes you get an investigation that you know will change people's lives. |
| 1:14.4 | This was one of those stories. With the cost of living crisis biting, |
| 1:20.4 | and energy bills shooting up, we knew that some of the most vulnerable people in society |
| 1:25.8 | would struggle to cope. But when the times went undercover and found that British gas had been |
| 1:31.9 | obtaining court warrants to break into customers' homes, people were genuinely shocked. |
| 1:39.5 | Particularly, as gas companies are supposed to protect vulnerable customers. |
| 1:50.5 | The investigation was so shocking that it changed the national conversation and the gas companies, |
| 2:00.0 | the industry regulator and the government, immediately chimed in. |
| 2:04.6 | We also announced that we have suspended any installation pre-payment meters underwater until |
| 2:10.8 | at least the end of the winter. The energy regulator has ordered all major suppliers to suspend |
... |
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