Requesting court documents relating to a payment meter

Littlespy

So today a bunch of guys from edf turned up to fit a pre payment meter for gas. I was at work but on the phone to my partner. They refused to show him the warrant or how much was owed because it was in name but refused to tell us how we could get a copy of the warrant. Edf had gone to court despite telling me that they'd accepted my payment plan and sending a letter re court action the day before the warrant. Therefore I couldn't represent myself at court. There were no welfare checks prior to the warrant and I actually have asthma and arthritis which precludes a prepayment meter being fitted. They're claiming they carried out welfare checks 'by sight' today by looking at my partner. How can I get a copy of the warrant or court documents that they're refusing to show us and any suggestions on how to move forward?

footyguy

Littlespy wrote: »

So today a bunch of guys from edf turned up to fit a pre payment meter for gas. I was at work but on the phone to my partner. They refused to show him the warrant or how much was owed because it was in name but refused to tell us how we could get a copy of the warrant. Edf had gone to court despite telling me that they'd accepted my payment plan and sending a letter re court action the day before the warrant. Therefore I couldn't represent myself at court. There were no welfare checks prior to the warrant and I actually have asthma and arthritis which precludes a prepayment meter being fitted. They're claiming they carried out welfare checks 'by sight' today by looking at my partner. How can I get a copy of the warrant or court documents that they're refusing to show us and any suggestions on how to move forward?

No warrant = no access.
(You are entitled to see the court warrant that gives the people the right to access)

If they will not leave, call the police.
You may elect to call them anyway, as it sounds like some kind of scam.... especially if they are calling at 11 o'clock at night.

Good luck!

Joyful

I have never heard of asthma and arthritis as a reason for not getting a PP meter fitted, unless it is a single person in the home that cannot access the meter. In that case the meter could be moved under the priority service register.

cing0

Your entitled to a copy of the order from the court though you may have to jump through ID hoops if you don't get it posted to the subject address.
If you look at this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=70560427&postcount=3, you will see the difficulty is finding out which Magistrates court issued the warrant as the 'justice area' could mean any court in England and Wales (if you're south of Hadrians).

House_Martin

Asthma and arthritus, or any other illnesses, will not stop a supplier rightfully finding a means of payment for energy costs.
How much was the debt ?
A prepay meter may be the best for you in the long run. Prepay meters now have lower tariffs than standard variable.
What you do not want to do is make suppliers go to court for a warrant because the price of all that ( approx £150 ) is going to fall on you and it will be loaded on the debt screen for repayment of a max of £16 a week. It looks like that has already happened.Check screens "S" and "T " to see the total debt and the weekly repayment
It is cheaper for you not to oppose the fitting of the meter in the first place.
If the supplier has to employ a locksmith for forced entry than that too will be paid for by the occupier

Michaelw

Littlespy wrote: »

I was at work but on the phone to my partner. They refused to show him the warrant or how much was owed because it was in name but refused to tell us how we could get a copy of the warrant. Edf had gone to court despite telling me that they'd accepted my payment plan and sending a letter re court action the day before the warrant.

You should have attended court and presented your case.Many of these warrants have appeared on youtube over the year's and have shown evasive tactics when questioned to legality on the doorstep and have been dramatic as well as traumatic.This should not have happened.The problem is that so many of these get rubber stamped in one session that a court simply doesn't know or information is withheld.

Unforunatly in todays world anything legal is often ignored,overlooked.

A prepay meter may be the best for you in the long run. Prepay meters now have lower tariffs than standard variable

Thats not true.Someone can put £10 on for gas and receive only £1 for gas plus there are likely to be court fees added on top which these meters deduct as a seperate charge.These meters are not for eveyone and once in are in some cases hard to get removed.

The Citizens Advice Bureau need to be contacted and advice sought.

3.30 minutes in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqMFq0CsE78

About warrants'.

welshmoneylover

Littlespy wrote: »

So today a bunch of guys from edf turned up to fit a pre payment meter for gas. I was at work but on the phone to my partner. They refused to show him the warrant or how much was owed because it was in name but refused to tell us how we could get a copy of the warrant. Edf had gone to court despite telling me that they'd accepted my payment plan and sending a letter re court action the day before the warrant. Therefore I couldn't represent myself at court. There were no welfare checks prior to the warrant and I actually have asthma and arthritis which precludes a prepayment meter being fitted. They're claiming they carried out welfare checks 'by sight' today by looking at my partner. How can I get a copy of the warrant or court documents that they're refusing to show us and any suggestions on how to move forward?

.

Far easier to pay the bill?

Edf would have attempted to contact you on numerous occasions before applying for the warrant.

Michaelw

This will help show what they have added in charges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEBr_PKZGB0

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/about-us/how-we-work/working-consumers/protecting-and-empowering-consumers-vulnerable-situations

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/who-contact-if-its-difficult-paying-energy-bills/energy-supply-disconnection-and-prepayment-meter-rules

House_Martin

Michaelw wrote: »

You should have attended court and presented your case.Many of these warrants have appeared on youtube over the year's and have shown evasive tactics when questioned to legality on the doorstep and have been dramatic as well as traumatic.This should not have happened.The problem is that so many of these get rubber stamped in one session that a court simply doesn't know or information is withheld.

Unforunatly in todays world anything legal is often ignored,overlooked.



Thats not true.Someone can put £10 on for gas and receive only £1 for gas plus there are likely to be court fees added on top which these meters deduct as a seperate charge.These meters are not for eveyone and once in are in some cases hard to get removed.

The Citizens Advice Bureau need to be contacted and advice sought.

3.30 minutes in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqMFq0CsE78

About warrants'.

Well someone has to pay the piper, there are no free lunches in the world, ever.
If someone "refuses " to pay for an energy bill, for whatever reason then the suppliers have no option to recoup it somehow.What do you expect them to do ? pass it on for us to pay in higher costs.
The problem with many households today is that they have what they think to be more useful ways of spending their income,smart phone monthly contracts, catch up TV and Netflix, a bigger thirstier more expensive German car or even leasing a new car
Energy bills are up there at the top as a priority along with food and shelter .
I work for EDF, amongst other suppliers, and I can tell you that they are one of the last suppliers to go down the forced prepayment meter route. This only comes about many meter reading visits to get supplier based meter readings and general meter inspections in order to keep the billing updated and avoid a big deficit developing.
. If this does nt happen then they will be posting advanced notice letters and finally two different stages of hand delivered verified letters with final warnings and date of the court hearing. These final letters are usually performed by team manager assisitants, (TMA s), because they are deemed to be very important letters.
I have a done quite a few and I am requested to photograph the front door to log my visit as proof of hand delivery because some occupiers may claim it has nt been sent, or lost in the post
The best the OP can do is to manage the debt and pay it keeping their own credit meter without incurring prepay meter installation costs or court warrant fees , but they must pay a realistic weekly cost over at the most 3 years to repay it.
Don`t forget there is wriggle room to barter with suppliers to lower the weekly dept repay rate.
I have seen an occupier,( my next door neighbour ) have as much as £16 a week loaded for a debt of £800 on both gas and electric prepay meters , which she got lowered to a more affordable £6 a week after a call to the debt section of British Gas
Personally I would like to ban all prepay meters in the UK. They are the devils work..They are rare in other countries.They operate a much fairer method of simply cutting off the supply altogether until any debts are repaid .
That will concentrate the mind of occupiers to live according to their means and pay what they owe and if that means dumping smartphone and broadband contracts or any other superfluous monthly contracts, then so be it..
Its OK to show a Youtube clip to back up some preconceived ideas but that is not a realistic scenario of the usual forced prepayment meter install . Its also highly suspicious of being cobbled up nonsense to make a TV show. For a start they show an outside credit meter of the customers of SSE Hydro, then an internal gas prepay meter when the meter is replaced.
Meters are just swapped in situ, they are not replaced in different positions. That would be expensive and lengthy and not necessary.

macman

Curious that the OP does not give any information about the debt allegedly owed and how long overdue? Or perhaps they believe nothing is owed? Without this basic info it's not possible to give any meaningful advice.

SammenForLivet2

Perhaps accept a voluntary PAYG meter to be installed; and avoid hideous additional costs and wasting the time and hassle of contending of keeping the credit meter. PAYG meters are no longer awful in terms of rates; and let's be truthful; it's not something that many suppliers actually wanted installed; as margins are tiny these days on them. Many of the Big Six run PAYG at a loss or break-even point.