SSE Stuck On Standard Tarrif

juno-eclipse

Hey,

We're trying so sort out the finances of a family member, he's in about 650 debt spread over his gas and electric, he's disabled and on ESA which gets paid twice weekly so at some point they convinced him to set up a payment plan direct debit which he pays every 2 weeks, this is actually working for him as he's rarely missing payments now, but SSE said on the phone as he's in debt so much that he has to stay on the standard tarrif, is this allowed?
being in all day is already increasing his bills but the standard rate is making them unaffordable.

Thanks
Juno

AndyPK

that is ridiculous !


Some of these companies are awful.

[Deleted User]

Isn't it an industry wide thing where if you owe you cant change to a lower tariff or are you just stuck if you want to change company.

System

Industry responses given to an Ofgem consultation in 2016 on consumer debt suggested that where a switch of supplier is blocked, the supplier will give the debtor advice on any available/cheaper tariffs. The 'problem' might be the requirement to pay by monthly DD which is often a condition of a lot of the cheap tariffs. If I was helping the OP, I would seek advice from Citizens' Advice. It has an Extra Help Unit for consumers who are struggling.

AndyPK

Arh yes. The 2 weekly payment thing may well be the issue.

It is still shameful

footyguy

juno-eclipse wrote: »

Hey,

We're trying so sort out the finances of a family member, he's in about 650 debt spread over his gas and electric, he's disabled and on ESA which gets paid twice weekly so at some point they convinced him to set up a payment plan direct debit which he pays every 2 weeks, this is actually working for him as he's rarely missing payments now, but SSE said on the phone as he's in debt so much that he has to stay on the standard tarrif, is this allowed?
being in all day is already increasing his bills but the standard rate is making them unaffordable.

Thanks
Juno

I think your family member has mis-led you

Whilst a supplier may legitimately block a switch request where it is owed money, they do allow you to transfer to any tariff they offer.

Get your family member to contact the supplier again. If necessary, point them to the supplier's complaint procedure.

welshmoneylover

Wrong idea I am afraid.
Sse may prevent him from switching to a different supplier until the debt is paid but he will be allowed to switch to an Sse fixed tariff.

You can do this online on his behalf, provided of course you have his permission to do so.

Michaelw

Energy bills runs into the tens of pounds for a month.It appears that prepayment tarriffs can cheaper then the standard variable I chose to go back under that umbrella simply because a debt can build in a few weeks that can take some time to pay off.

The Priority Assistance Fund but that appears now closed.

https://sse.co.uk/help/accessibility/priority-assistance-fund

https://sse.co.uk/help/bills-and-paying/trouble-paying-your-bills

Check that your claiming the warm home discount as well.With a prepayment meter you can change with £500 debt or less.