Energy firms 'profit from poor'
Energy suppliers make some of their biggest profits from their poorest customers, a watchdog has said.
Firms make about half a billion pounds a year in extra charges from prepayment meters, Consumer Focus estimates.
About 1,000 prepayment meters a day are being installed in households where people have got into debt over their energy bills, it says.
Industry body the Energy Retail Association says many people like the meters because they help them budget.
But the industry is now under pressure from the regulator, Ofgem, to cut the prepayment tariffs.
Tell me about it! I am fed up of being ripped off by N Power and NatWest. Given that the government is claiming to be cracking down on benefit fraud, perhaps they will also look into these two companies to discover why they are fraudulently taking my state benefit off me month after month?
