A new campaign has been launched to urge people to talk to friends and family of support about money worries in a bid to raise awareness of the help available.
Scottish charity Advice Direct Scotland launched the COST Conversations campaign, urging Scottish bill payers to have 'open and honest' conversations which can help them be aware of sources of support, which in turn prevents people struggling alone.
Robert Norris, 88, from Duddingston in Edinburgh was landed a bill of around £1,300 after being switched to Shell Energy when his original supplier, Zebra Power, went bust in August 2021.
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He told Edinburgh Live : “I’ve was trying to get in touch with Shell for over the last 12 months. When I got transferred to them, they phoned me and told me I had a smart meter, which was right, but I wasn’t given an account number.”
According to Mr Norris, he didn’t receive any bills and didn’t receive a response from Shell over the last 12 months when he enquired.
It was only during the first week of October, 2022, the bill was around £1,300.
"The worst was at night, lying in bed, the last thing I would think about is money," he said, adding how was was able to speak to his daughter about his money worries, 'who was a great help'.
It was only when he got in touch with Advice Direct Scotland who helped him receive an award from the Home Heating Support Fund that helped clear the backdated bill and his account now ‘in credit’.
He praised the organisation for helping quickly and made the process easy to understand as admitted that he wasn’t used to admin work as his wife used to ‘deal with all that’. But sadly after she passed away two years ago, Robert got to grips with emails and now has his own tablet that his daughter helps him with.
Advice Direct Scotland offers a wide range of services to support people with the cost-of-living crisis and can help those struggling with energy bills or debt problems.
The charity runs energyadvice.scot, where Scots can get free, practical and information on energy-related matters including understanding bills, complaints and disputes, scams and changing suppliers.
Advisers can also offer guidance on the assistance available and make referrals to sources of support for those who need help, such as the Scottish Government’s Home Heating Support Fund. The fund seeks to provide financial relief to energy consumers who are experiencing significant financial hardship or are rationing energy to get by.
Individual households can now also apply through www.homeheatingadvice.scot, by choosing the ‘Household Application’ route, provided they have received money and/or energy advice from an accredited advice agency. Advice Direct Scotland can also make referrals to the fund on a customer’s behalf.
The charity’s moneyadvice.scot service provides free information and support on a wide range of debt-related issues.
Specialist debt and money advisers can work with people to assess their current situation, look at their income and outgoings, and consider what to do next.
The campaign comes after the UK Government’s new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ came into effect this month, setting average household bills at £2,500 a year. The guarantee was designed to halt escalating price cap rises as bills had been on course to spiral to over £5,000 by January.
However, the £2,500 for a typical household is still double the cap of last winter and, coupled with rising inflation, many people are already struggling to cope. In addition, those using more energy will be paying more.
Colin Mathieson, spokesperson for Advice Direct Scotland, said: “Our COST Conversations campaign encourages everyone to engage in open and honest conversations with friends and family about the cost-of-living crisis.
“Many of us who were managing previously are now finding ourselves in precarious financial situations with the prices of electricity, gas, food and other products and services rising so sharply.
“You do not need to suffer alone if you are struggling - sometimes talking things through can help us to move forward.
“Both the Scottish and UK governments have announced various support schemes that are designed to soften the blow of devastating increases to day-to-day costs such as energy and home rental costs.
“Moving into the winter months, we are asking everyone to keep talking to help raise awareness about the sources of support available.
“At Advice Direct Scotland, we have a wide range of services available to everyone in Scotland, at no cost, regardless of personal circumstance.”
A spokesperson for Shell Energy said: "Mr Norris's energy supply was transferred to Shell Energy in October 2021 (not August 2021) when GOTO Energy went into administration.
"Unfortunately, the administrators of GOTO did not provide us with all the account information for Mr Norris, so an account was not created until Mr Norris got in touch with us in May. We were reliant on the accuracy of the data passed to us by the administrators of GOTO to set up customer accounts, and in this case the data was incomplete.
"When Mr Norris got in touch with us in May, we promptly set up an account in his name. Mr Norris was unable to read his meters so we arranged for an engineer to visit to take readings, so that his first bill would be accurate.
"Mr Norris received a bill in September and his account balance is cleared. We have offered our sincere apologies for the delays that Mr Norris experienced."
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