Energy companies are leaving vulnerable customers “in the cold and dark” amid the worst cost of living crisis in living memory. One Scots pensioner who had survived a brain tumour but was left with ongoing health problems was refused help when he was left with just £1 of emergency credit in his prepayment meter.
His energy supplier said he wasn’t entitled to any assistance – because his account was £6.50 in debt. Caseworkers at the Citizens Advice Extra Help Unit – who raise complaints with energy suppliers on behalf of vulnerable people – stepped in to help the cash-strapped OAP by giving him a fuel voucher for his gas and electricity.
Another pensioner was forced to fork out £170 from his benefits every two weeks to clear a debt that had built up because his energy supplier had been sending him bills for a different address. The man – who had been switched to a prepayment meter without warning – was left with next to nothing to live on while he cleared the bill.
In a third case highlighted by Citizens Advice Scotland, a single mum was forced into having a prepayment meter installed after she fell into arrears. The woman, who suffers from mental health difficulties, was given no other option and is repaying the debt she was in at £15 a week.
The debt charity underlined the shocking problems facing hard-up customers days after it was revealed that energy companies have been forcibly installing prepayments meters by “breaking into homes”.
Poppy Ives, from South Seeds charity in Glasgow’s Govanhill, told BBC Scotland’s The Nine on Thursday: “The area we work in is a very diverse area, so English is not the first language for a lot of clients. If they’re getting letters, they’re not necessarily understanding what’s happening. I see warrants and meters being changed for these customers all the time.”
Her claim came after an undercover probe by The Times appeared to show third-party debt collectors contracted by British Gas “breaking in” to a customer’s home to forcibly install a pre-pay meter.
British Gas chief executive Chris O’Shea told The Nine: “There is nothing I can say that can express the horror I had when I heard this. It is completely unacceptable. As soon as we heard this, we suspended the company.”
Ofgem has also launched a probe into British Gas. CAS Social Justice spokesman David Hilferty has accused firms of failing vulnerable customers. He said: “It is worth remembering that people who use prepayment meters are more likely to have a vulnerable situation – be that low or insecure incomes, or a disability. If they can’t top up their meter, they risk being in the cold and the dark.
"For disabled people, that could mean being unable to power essential medical equipment. In the midst of the worst cost of living crisis in living memory, that is inexcusable.”
Last month, it was revealed more than a quarter of Scots on prepayment smart meters had been disconnected from power between July and September. The SNP has accused the UK Government of blocking a Bill to prevent people from being cut off.
Glasgow North East MP Anne McLaughlin has twice brought a Private Member’s Bill to the House of Commons that would ban disconnecting households from gas or electricity. On both occasions, it has been rejected at the second reading stage by the Government.
McLaughlin said the blocking means continued “untold misery” for millions of people. The Bill will be put forward for a second reading on March 3.
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