A Perth pensioner with COPD has been left scared to turn her gas heating on over fears about mounting bills.
Lyn Joseph (76) spent cold days huddled around a portable heater in her Feus Road flat, afraid to use central heating in case she was left with sky-high bills.
So far, her attempts to get a smart meter to show exact usage have been hampered by a web of delays, requirements and eligibility checks.
Meanwhile, she and her Yorkshire Terrier Riley cuddle up in front of a halogen heater with Lyn admitting she goes to bed after dinner to keep warm.
Lyn has the respiratory condition COPD and brittle bones and more than most people, needs to keep warm.
Before she retired, Lyn worked at the Bridge of Earn Co-op.
She’s been living in her flat for five years, beginning with storage heaters which were working out too expensive.
She had partial gas heating and hot water installed in her home in February.
She told the PA: “I just heat my front room with a halogen heater. I don’t heat the kitchen.
“It’s not good for my mental health and I feel pretty dispirited, but I go straight to bed after I’ve had my evening meal, I worry about heating the rest of the flat.”
Keen to use the gas sensibly given the cost rises, she asked a gas engineer to put in a smart meter.
But because she lives in flats, there were various cables from other tenants which meant it would be hard to isolate her gas usage. And a cable still went to her redundant night storage heaters. The British Gas representative told her she’d first need an electrical call out from OVO (SSE’s domestic arm) to sort the wiring so a new meter could be correctly fitted .
But that proved a minefield for the pensioner to work out alone.
“I spent 41 minutes getting nowhere on the telephone to SSE’s customer helpline,” she said. “They told me there was no way an electrical engineer could be booked to take a look for at least 28 days. It could be more.
“I was stunned. Without the electric people coming to get the box wired up right, there could be no gas meter for me.
“A month’s wait minimum is a long time to wait to just get the first stage of the process done.
“Bills are going up now. They wouldn’t send anyone till November at the earliest.
“The SSE/OVO call handlers said things like ‘we will have to see if you are eligible.’
“They had me on the phone for nearly an hour, saying there were not enough engineers in Perth to come over to me. I hung up, exhausted with nothing arranged.”
When the PA took up Lyn’s case with OVO they took action and sent someone round on Wednesday to size up the cable problem, so with it fixed she could go back to British Gas and ask for a smart meter.
OVO was due to send an engineer to fix the wiring problem on Friday (October 7) but the booking was cancelled at the last minute.
Poor Lyn was frustrated: "That's put me off, I was told I would have to start on the phone again and go through the process of booking a new engineer visit with OVO. They must be really short of staff.
"To be honest I've had enough of the whole process. It's not like all this runaround has made my home any warmer.
“It is still all very hard for me to understand. It looks like if I hang in there, eventually I will be able to get a meter that shows me my gas usage.
“It still is going to cost a lot to stay warm this winter but at least I’m less likely to get surprised when the bill comes.
“Also I have been shown how to use the SSE app that lets me take electric meter readings and makes it easier to understand my electric usage.”
OVO was asked to respond to Lyn's case but had not sent any comment by the time of the PA going to print.
