Any advice?

Shon85

Hi all.

I'm new here so apologies if this isn't done right.

I'm having a few probs with my energy supplier. Basically, my hubby phoned them just before christmas to set up a payment plan for an outstanding debt. They wanted a large amount paid straight off before they would do it. We could't afford that right on top of Christmas so hubby said he would call them back after christmas to sort it out.

Got a knock on the door last night from a Debt collecter for the energy supplier. He left a letter, plus a £55 fee!!

Hubby phoned energy supplier to set up the plan, but because we'd already had a visit from the DCA they wanted half the balance this time, more than we can afford a week after christmas. They said our only other option is to set up a prepayment meter, but with what they will take for the debt each week, plus the money we'd need to put on for our usage, it would be over £50 a week and we just can't afford it.

We've been told we can't switch supplier until our debt is under £200. So it looks like our only options are to pay off half the balance, then go on a payment plan to pay off the rest, plus usage, or go prepayment, neither of which we can afford to do at the moment

Any ideas from anyone who might have been in this situation?

Neil_Jones

The £200 figure is correct, unfortunately.

The amount of debt recovered on a per-week basis can be set by the supplier, and I believe can go as low as possibly £3 a week if I remember correctly, and possibly even more if you're on benefits. I'm assuming your debt is for electricity, so £50 of electricity at 13p a unit is enough for about 384 units, which, depending on your usage, may be enough for a fortnight's use minus standing charges and the debt repayments.

Do you know how much energy you actually use?

withabix

How much do you owe the electricity supplier?

caz2003uk

I had pre-payment meters installed by british gas because of my debts with them. My weekly amount through the meters was £3.30 a week

I currently consume £15 a fortnight on my gas and just short of £15 a fortnight on electric. I have the heating on for 4/5 hours every evening and more at the weekends, I also have a gas cooker!