Gas Pre-Payment Meter with Utility Warehouse

drowninginunpayabledebt

As I don't see what I can do with this I think I'm more putting this on to have a moan.

I had a pre-payment meter fitted under warrant. I'm not proud of it. I'm struggling with money and fell really far behind with my gas and electricity payments. I got a letter saying they would apply for a warrant and fit a meter. I didn't do anything - to be honest I thought the meter would be easier anyway because it would help me clear the debt. I figured I would wait for the letter with the date they were coming round and take the time off work to be here.

8 days ago I came home from work early to find they had been and fitted my meters. I was a little surprised I hadn't been notified of the date they were visiting - perhaps they don't advise people of the date to avoid a confrontation??

Electricity is working fine however I haven't been getting any gas to the house. As I work quite long hours I haven't been able to speak to them. Managed to get someone today and discovered they have capped my gas (no idea what that means or why they did it) and so I have to arrange for a gas safety engineer to come out to the property to fix it. I have no heating or hot water and a 1 year old in the house with me. I can't actually afford an engineer out to the house (had to repair my car this month as I need it for work) for at least another month :eek:

What I want to know is this - is it normal practice not to advise the person living in the property that they are coming with the warrant on the specific day. My argument on the telephone was that if I had known when they were coming I would have been at home. Especially if I had known that this cap would be fitted.

I know this is my fault - if I had paid my bills on time none of this would be happening - but right now I can't afford to get this fixed but I can't afford to have no hot water either!

macman

If you had agreed a voluntary PPM then you would have avoided all the extra court/warrant/locksmith charges (not clear from your post if they had to force entry or not).
If you received notification of a warrant application and failed to respond to it or attend court then the procedure is inevitable, although you certainly should have been informed of a date.
It would appear that your gas has been capped because of safety issues, they should have put a notice on the supply telling you this. Could they not give you a reason when they spoke to you?

drowninginunpayabledebt

The charges don't matter. I'm in so much debt (and not just with them) that I won't be clear until I'm about 100. They had to force entry.

No they couldn't give me a reason. And I wasn't aware until I spoke to them today that it was capped. They left me some letters when they fitted it. None of them stated that there was a cap.

I had no date for the application of the warrant or any notification on the date they intended to visit the property to fit the meters.

Complaints were nice but essentially unhelpful. They said as I wasn't in the property when they were they cap the gas.

Before I write to them and officially log the complaint I would like to know if it's normal practice for them not to advise a specific date.

Also should they leave you a copy of the warrant? There wasn't one left so I've had to ask for this to be sent on??

macman

It is possible that the gas has been capped due to non-payment of the debts? As they have to leave you with some source of heating and lighting they won't cut off the electricity as well, but fit a PPM.
Unfortunately that means that you will have to use more expensive electricity for hot water and heating unless you can get the gas reconnected.
The charges do matter, you are adding even more unnecessary debt by failing to respond, and that will be reflected in the amount that the PPM takes to recover the debt every time you top up. If you did not oppose a PPM, then it would have been much better to agree a voluntary PPM before it got to the warrant stage.
Your best route now is probably to seek professional advice in managing your debts.

chanz4

The supply would only of been left capped if they couldn't do a purge and relight test inside, or if an appliance is unsafe.

Shouldn't do it, but call 0800 111999 and say you have no gas on and credit on your meter. don't mention you had a warrant and they will if safe uncap

drowninginunpayabledebt

Thanks for your help. They said it was "capped for safety measures". No idea what that means but I've written to them asking for clarification.

I'm getting help with my debts. This was just another blow. But hey ho I've managed to arrange another couple of days off work which means I won't have so much petrol to buy this month and there's a guy coming out tomorrow to fix the gas. Next month's salary will be less but I will just need to tighten the belt!!

chanz4

It means you have something internally wrong, call a gas safe engineer out of yellow pages

Terrylw1

I suggest you read through Standard Licence Condition (SLC) 27 in terms of customers in payment difficulty in the supplier .pdf's in this link to Ofgem's site.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Licensing/Work/Pages/licence-conditions-consolidated.aspx

Have they followed this?

chanz4

Terrylw1 wrote: »

I suggest you read through Standard Licence Condition (SLC) 27 in terms of customers in payment difficulty in the supplier .pdf's in this link to Ofgem's site.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Licensing/Work/Pages/licence-conditions-consolidated.aspx

Have they followed this?

that's not really going to help her get her gas uncapped, is it really?

Terrylw1

chanz4 wrote: »

that's not really going to help her get her gas uncapped, is it really?

Its not aimed at that, its aimed at ensuring the supplier took the right steps leading to the warrant that resulted in the cap.

If they haven't, the customer has grounds for a complaint which the loss of supply adds to.

Suppliers just love breaching the SLC's, billing codes and their own t&c's since most customers are unaware of the codes.

If they haven't followed the SLC's, it gives ammunition in arguing how to move forward with the debt and the extra charges added.

sunflower_2

drowninginunpayabledebt wrote: »

Thanks for your help. They said it was "capped for safety measures". No idea what that means but I've written to them asking for clarification.

I'm getting help with my debts. This was just another blow. But hey ho I've managed to arrange another couple of days off work which means I won't have so much petrol to buy this month and there's a guy coming out tomorrow to fix the gas. Next month's salary will be less but I will just need to tighten the belt!!

i am not 100% sure - but i thought they had to cap the gas supply if noone was at the property i.e. they had to force entry? "for safety measures".

i work for a utility company, albeit not in debt/disconnections - am pretty sure they can only leave a "live" gas supply if the occupier is present.

this should be pretty simple to get sorted - you just have to ask them to come out and uncap the supply.
with a 1 year old child at home - am sure you would be able to get someone out asap.
really hope you do - a toddler and no hot water