1. When you can be disconnected for arrears
The most important power which suppliers have for non-payment of energy bills is to cut off your supply if you do not pay your bill. The power to disconnect is considered more effective than the right to recover money through the court system.
Unfortunately, suppliers sometimes find it difficult to distinguish between deliberate non-payment and those who would pay but are suffering financial hardship or other problems. However, disconnection should only be a last resort in extreme circumstances, when all other methods of recovery have failed. It should not be used as a standard method of debt enforcement.
In practice, very few customers are now disconnected as a result of a failure to pay and it is increasingly becoming an outmoded and disused tool. According to Ofgem, at March 2022 there were an estimated 1.9 million electricity accounts in arrears with an average debt of £896 and an estimated 1.4 million gas accounts in arrears with an average debt of £855.1Ofgem, Infographic: energy company performance, March 2022 Ofgem has amended its domestic standards of conduct, imposing greater obligations on suppliers to ensure that disconnection is the last resort and vulnerable situations and circumstances are better identified. The declining number of disconnections
In 2003, there were 15,973 disconnections of gas and 1,361 for electricity.2Department of Trade and Industry Fifth Report, House of Commons, 1 February 2005 As a result of the increased consumer protection, in 2021 there were no electricity disconnections and no gas disconnections in the UK.3Ofgem, Customer Service Data, Q1 2021 - Q4 2021; This represents a very small percentage of the number of customers in fuel debt during the same period and an even smaller percentage of all customers nationally.
It is important as a preliminary step to discover the cause of your arrears and identify whether you fall into a vulnerable group (see here). If you or someone in your household is vulnerable, inform your supplier as soon as possible, preferably before arrears arise.