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billclay
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08-10-2014, 07:28 PM
1

Excessive ??

Advice needed, an old retired family friend has recieved a letter from her electricity supplier, stating that the cost of her energy will rise from £70 per month to £130 and also arrears of £357 must be paid. bearing in mind she lives in a chalet type home with one bedroom, small living room and tiny bathroom and kitchen, i am at a loss how to advise her, has she a case for appeal, and what should she do next, in her present financial circumstances the extra costs would be crippling.
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cranberry
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08-10-2014, 07:50 PM
2

Re: Excessive ??

Does the power provider know her circumstances, has she tried to negotiate a payment plan with them? Perhaps she would get a sympathetic hearing if she explains the situation..
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Alan Cooke
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08-10-2014, 08:05 PM
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Re: Excessive ??

I think a visit to the CAB is called for.
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08-10-2014, 09:23 PM
4

Re: Excessive ??

I agree Alan.
If she is in receipt of pension credits or some other benefits she may be entitled to warm home discount most suppliers have this in some form, it can be around £130 a year, also should she be getting heating allowance or grants that other pensioners get?
I believe you can now change supplier even if you owe money (may be wrong but I think I heard that) so the CAB would help her do that I'm sure.
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08-10-2014, 11:25 PM
5

Re: Excessive ??

I would contact them by phone ,tell them what she can afford ,i would also think about having the Meter checked to see if its registering correctly .
If its a chalet type accommodation,its not something that can be insulated ,,
Is it on a site ?
It does seem excessive considering we are just coming out of the summer months..
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09-10-2014, 07:51 AM
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Re: Excessive ??

Alan and Twiz are right, contact CAB they sorted out a problem for me quickly.
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09-10-2014, 08:53 AM
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Re: Excessive ??

Originally Posted by Nom ->
Alan and Twiz are right, contact CAB they sorted out a problem for me quickly.
That's my advice too - Citizens Advice are the best bet to get it sorted ...
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09-10-2014, 09:08 AM
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Re: Excessive ??

Originally Posted by billclay ->
Advice needed, an old retired family friend has recieved a letter from her electricity supplier, stating that the cost of her energy will rise from £70 per month to £130 and also arrears of £357 must be paid. bearing in mind she lives in a chalet type home with one bedroom, small living room and tiny bathroom and kitchen, i am at a loss how to advise her, has she a case for appeal, and what should she do next, in her present financial circumstances the extra costs would be crippling.
£130 per month does seem excessive, and why have they allowed arrears of £357 to accrue without alerting her? I agree with the other posters - a call to CAB or even Age UK needs to be made.
Myra
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13-10-2014, 07:21 PM
9

Re: Excessive ??

Yes, the energy company need to answer to this. It's ridiculous. Hopefully an error has been made and it can be sorted out. Terribly frightening to get a bill like that though.
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stevmk2
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13-10-2014, 07:43 PM
10

Re: Excessive ??

Originally Posted by billclay ->
Advice needed, an old retired family friend has recieved a letter from her electricity supplier, stating that the cost of her energy will rise from £70 per month to £130 and also arrears of £357 must be paid. bearing in mind she lives in a chalet type home with one bedroom, small living room and tiny bathroom and kitchen, i am at a loss how to advise her, has she a case for appeal, and what should she do next, in her present financial circumstances the extra costs would be crippling.
This sounds so similar to what a certain BiG energy provider did try with me a long time ago because the numpties who were dealing with the accounts couldn't work out the difference between MONTHLY consumption and QUARTERLY consumption but I'm also concerned about the lack of any alerts regarding arrears as that's not supposed to happen.

In our case we suddenly got a letter telling us that our monthly Direct Debit would be increased to the exact same amount that our total consumption had been in the whole of the previous quarter!

I read it and immediately realised someone had made a mistake but ringing this company and trying to get them to realise their error was impossible - they even put the phone down on me.

It took a concerted effort from me, my MP, the Ombudsman and even the Energy Secretary, (via my MP), before they even agreed to look at their figures again and they never conceded they had made an error.

All they ever did was REDUCE our DD and refund the huge amount of OUR money they held back and had refused to refund us so the first opportunity that I got I told this company to stick their energy!

This doesn't help your friend and although I do agree that CAB should be able to help I would check ASAP to see what their case load is as this lady needs help and advice NOW.

The CAB around here is overwhelmed by all sorts at the moment so it's really worth checking now and I'd suggest contacting the Ombudsman immediately.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/co...us-energy.html

Good Luck. stevmk2
 
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