Southern Electric HELP!

Annie71_2

I'm at my wits end with this company. Over eighteen months ago I had a bill which stated that my monthly payments had not covered my bill and I owed over £700. I phoned them straight away and requested a pre pay meter as this was the only way I could afford to pay the debt. They said they would and arranged for an engineer to fit the meter. After failing to arrive twice they fitted the meter on the third appointment. For the past eighteen months I have been struggling to feed the meter but was happy that the debt was being paid off. During the winter months I have hardly had the heating on as I was unable to afford to feed the meter but still I was putting in around £60 per week. The last bill I had in December hadn't listed the payments I had put on my pre pay card so I rang them and they said that they had received the payments and this would show on my next bill. I have phoned them today to ask how much is left on the outstanding debt only to be told that the debt had only actually been put on the meter in April 2010 and I still owed over £700!! I don't know what to say to them. I have struggled to feed the meter as it is and now they are telling me that I haven't even been paying the debt off. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Gurn_2

Send them a letter listing your income and outgoings and try and haggle a better repayment weekly figure.

KimYeovil

Uhm, they are complaining that they want to pay more every week, not less.

OP, you have to get a handle on how your meter display works. Press buttons and curse until you suss it out. And then monitor how much you are using. Plus you have to work out what you are spending £60 on excluding heating - that is not really possible unless you are baking bread all day or growing herbal remedies. But are you sure you are using as little heating as you think? £60 would not be unreasonable this last winter.

Gurn_2

I find it hard to believe that a meter without a debt on is taking £240 a month!
Ive no experience of Gas meters, but does the debt not show up on the meter? and what were there reasons for not applying the debt sooner, surely they would have still been chasing you for the 18 months that you thought you were paying it off?

Gurn_2

KimYeovil wrote: »

Uhm, they are complaining that they want to pay more every week, not less.

.

OP poster has struggled to feed the meter without the debt applied, and doesnt know how he/she will be afford to repay now?

Or am i reading it wrong?