SSE massive outstanding bills

throwoff

Hey guys,

New down here in utilities, currently working on my SOA up in Debt free wannabes and many people have pointed out my Gas and Electric is insane.

Before I start and to hopefully ward off the trolls -

• This situation is entirely of my own making
• I am an idiot who ignored his bills
• I am now paying the price of my stupidity!

Hopefully that clears that up!

I have through not paying bills for 6+ months ended up with roughly 1600 bill on gas 500 on electric.

SSE themselves have 'audited' my useage and cannot understand my gas, I have an electric hob/oven, the only gas useage in my property is the boiler, SSE and I both think it comes down to the boiler being incredibly old and massively uneconomic to run, our heating even during the cold winter was hardly on and we do not overuse hot water (2 showers per day, the odd bit for washing up!) My useage was showing as something like 100 p/m on the last meter reading, the agent I spoke to at SSE was gobsmacked by it!

Before anyone asks, no there is no gas leak, that has been well checked!

Now long and short of it is that my bill is huge, the useage is neither here no there, it is done now and has been checked time and time again, meter readings are all present and correct etc.

SSE have agreed to accept £170 p/m on gas 80 on electric to clear the electric bill in about 18 months, the gas something like 22.

This still screws me up financially though, I simply cannot afford such large payments each month, we move soon and one of my key requirements is that the new property has a recently installed boiler and higher than a C grade efficiency rating so hopefully the useage cost per month will drop even more (perhaps even to a normal level!) and more will be coming off the backlog.

SSE seem unwilling to accept less, I cannot say I entirely blame them and again, I screwed this all up by not paying but can anyone advise what I can do? Is there room to drop the payments more?

matelodave

It looks as though they are being quite reasonable letting you pay back the arrears over nearly two years. The only way you could help the situation is by really economising and using less - not very helpful I know but I can't see them extending the period.

Cardew

As you intend to move soon, your account with SSE will close and you will be £xxx in debt.

You cannot 'transfer' your account to the new premises as you will initially be on a legally binding 'deemed contract' with the company who is supplying that house.

You can of course immediately apply to switch supplier to SSE but that takes 6 to 8 weeks.

SSE might agree to a payment plan that would run concurrently with your new house account - but I doubt it.

You could elect to have a pre-pay meter installed in your present address and then the amount they can 'clawback' off your debt is limited, but it very probably means you will have a pre-pay meter in your new house because the new supplier(or SSE) will be unlikely to offer you credit facilities.

I would think that the Debt Free wannabe forum would be able to offer better advice on the amount they can clawback on a pre-pay meter.

dogshome

I'm afraid that quoting £'s per year or month doesn't give enough information.

Just how many Kwh of Gas did you use in the previous 12 months ? - If you can't establish this from the bills, ask SSE.