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Outside my St Mungos flat are gas meters: archaic looking and half shrouded in ivy.

When it is time to top up the meter, that is to say when the bath water runs cold, it is time to go to the nearest “pay point”, usually an off licence, to present ones British Gas prepaid meter card. They only accept cash, so you’d better go to a cash point first.

You ask to put on £10, maybe £20, and then trundle back to your meter where you put it on by pressing a succession of buttons. Your balance will then flash up, minus any debt you’ve gone into. This means your £20 may actually only come to £13 to clear the debt.

The £13 won’t last long, mind, for those with meters pay more than those who pay monthly gas bills. Ridiculous as it may seem, this is manifestly the case. As the good people at theenergyshop.com say,

“Having a prepayment meter almost always means you will be paying more than you need to for your energy bills. Not only is the unit price for your energy more expensive with a prepayment meter, but the cheapest energy tariffs offered by suppliers are usually not made available to prepayment customers.”

As prepaid gas meters are designed, one supposes and indeed their proponents will claim, to help those in financial straits, why are we with less money paying more than those with more means?

In mid winter the balance quickly depletes itself as the radiators use up all the gas very quickly and a bath costs about £2.50. I once had all the radiators on for a couple of hours only to find it had cost £20. As monthly bill players are routinely charged around £30, this amount to be paid for one day’s heat is quite obscene.

My wish is that the people at British Gas and the management of charities whose beneficiaries, such as St Mungos, use prepaid meters, would reconsider these punitive prices for the most vulnerable people. Talk about a poverty trap.

Frances Forbes-Carbines, 22nd February 2020