British Gas has resumed force-fitting prepay meters in the homes of people unable to afford their energy bills months after paying the largest settlement on record for sending debt collectors into the homes of vulnerable customers.

The industry regulator has lifted a block going back almost four years that prevented British Gas from clawing back unpaid bills by fitting such meters in customers’ homes after extracting a settlement worth more than £100m from the supplier for its role in the prepay scandal at the height of the Russian gas crisis.

The decision means that British Gas agents will be able to force-fit prepay meters in homes from this winter as households brace for some of the highest energy bills since 2023, when the supplier first came under fire over its treatment of vulnerable customers.

Debt agents working for British Gas at the time had ignored signs of vulnerability in struggling households while fitting meters in their homes, according to an investigation by the Times, including those…