Threat of disconnection

[daviton]

Hi guys

My mother has been ill and has been unable to pay her bill, she is in a warden controlled flat with emergency intercoms so the wardens can be contacted if she needs them.

also her fire alarms are all run by the electricity and linked to the wardens

my mother is disabled due to cancer.

her meters are outside the house so they dont even need to enter to turn her off, now shes worried that they will cut her off and she will lose her fire alarms and her warden call service intercoms..

[ATD]

Contact the supplier and have your Mum registered on their Priority Service Register as a vulnerable customer.

 

Make sure you point out that due to disability a prepayment meter would not be suitable, in term of being able to operate the meter and/or top up the card.

 

They should not disconnect and would be able to come to a mutually agreeable payment arrangement for consumption + any arrears.

[the main man]

Priority Service Register (PSR)

If you are of pensionable age, disabled or chronically sick you can qualify for the Priority Service Register (PSR) by ringing your gas and electricity companies. Customers on the register are entitled to additional services free of charge, such as:

• free annual gas safety checks for qualifying customers,
  
• password schemes,
  
• bills available in large print and braille as well as talking bills,
  
• quarterly meter reading services (if no person occupying the premises is able to read the meter),
  
• having a prepayment meter moved to improve access,
  
• bill nominee scheme, and
  
• priority in an emergency (this could include providing alternative heating and cooking facilities in the event of supply disconnection).
  

Suppliers are also prohibited from disconnecting a premises occupied by a customer eligible for the PSR during the winter months (1 October - 31 March).

 

also.... if your mother is in receipt of certain benefits like pension credits there is the fuel direct payment scheme where an arranged payment plan is agreed and payments are made direct to the supplier from any benefits

[emmaf01]

I am disabled and we got into difficulties about 2 years ago.

 

We are now paying by Fuel Direct straight from out benefits. More people should know about this as an alernative to pre-payment meters.

[noggsy]

Fuel Direct is normally an alternative to PPM s if a meter is not an option, for example in Emma s case where there is a disability in the household or a location where you cannot get to a shop easily to get credit or if you live in an area where the supplier is not allowed to fit one due to the "shipper" - (mainly new housing developments). I agree it is a good way of paying off arears.

[emmaf01]

Its not just the arrears. Now we don't dread the fuel bills as its all taken care of, done before we even get our money. We have it for gas, electric and water.

 

Virgin fought like hell to get us a prepayment meter- terrible phone calls were they insulted my husband, said we couldn't look after our child, the whole works, trying to get us to agree to a PPM. But we refused. In the end we had to shuffle our benefits round, so they were all in my name so the DWP could amalgamate out IB and IS to cover both the gas and electricity, Virgin were asking for so much.

 

We suspected they were asking for so much as they were given our original, non-amalgamated benefit figures by the DWP and knew that the figures they then asked for were more than the IS we were receiving so Fuel Direct would not be allowed. The DWP told us they suspected this as it had happened before as the fuel suppliers prefer PPM to fuel direct which they have little control over.