problems for elderly mother

gypsyjanet

Hydro electric company in scotland have recently sent a bill to my mother and inclusive of this is a £4.50 charge for the cost of them sending a bill to her. She has a direct debit or standing order account with these people and I have told her not to pay this cost. She doesnt want to cause a fuss but would I be right in advising her not to pay this outragious charge.
Also a couple of years ago when she had gas heating fitted they insisted in placing the meter in her bed room and now she has had to move her bed when they want to read it. She is disabled and can no longer move the bed, I think they should have put this meter outside like they did for all the other tenants. She says that they have told her that she will have to pay to have it moved else where .Can it not be argued that their placing of this meter is inapppropriate and should have of been placed where it could easily have been put in her hall way as they could not put it outside?

Farway

It may not suit your sense of outrage, but given your mother is elderly then I would advise pay the 4.50 and do not let her have the hassle and bother

OR, you sign up into her account [with her permission of course] and get e-bill every time which you pass to her. You decide if your time & effort is worth 4.50

If she is disabled is she registered with whatever her electric co "disabled" special line / department is? If not then do so & get the meter person to move the bed

Terrylw1

Hi,

I don't know about gas but I can tell you in terms of the meter for electricity which may give you something to think about.

ALL Suppliers have to maintain a Priority Services Register (PSR) for gas & electricity customers. This register contains customers who are considered at risk so they get special treatment. It's pretty hard to get on it, but it may help with the meter issue. The Supplier could advise on this.

As far as the meter goes, generally in the case of electricity you pay if it needs moving more than 6 inches due to rewiring. The same will apply on gas since they will have to alter the piping set up. There are some special cases though for PSR customers.

I would suggest that the PSR route may help you because she would have someone to speak to there instead of a call centre of a million people!

I think in your case it might be worth speaking to the CAB. It's very poor to have to move a disabled persons bed to read a meter. Surely the meter man can't expect her to do it, if so, what a jobsworth!

Hope it works out for her.