Can not pay my energy bill, what do I do know?

caffoe

Ok, well I am a student who has very little money due to the fact that term has just ended. However I have been given a letter by Scottish power stating they are cancelling my monthly payment plan, and charging me £223.99 to settle the debt. I simply cannot pay this money right now, and will not be able to pay it for another month when my next maintenance loan comes in. I have read that I can set up a plan to pay the debt weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, but even that might be a stretch for me at this moment in time. The only viable option I can think of in my current circumstance is to pay of a portion of it, and pay the rest at the end of April when I can afford it, but I am not sure if that would be an option.

So basically, what do I do now? Would they accept by suggestion or is such a thing not viable?

[Deleted User]

Suppliers may want to fit a prepay meter and add the debt to the meter to be paid back weekly, usually for a small debt like this, about £5 a week. £224 is not a big debt by todays standards. I saw a prepay last year with £9k debt on the meter, 2k is not uncommon

macman

The important thing is to contact them immediately and offer to pay something now towards it. Then agree a payment plan for the remainder, if your finances will be OK again in 4 weeks.
Since they have presumably cancelled your repayment plan as you have broken it, they're not going to offer you another unless you pay off something towards it now-say £50?
In future take regular reads to avoid this kind of catch up bill surprise.