Elec Prepayment meter broke COVID19

chloemoran4

Hi. 
My neighbour had an electrical fault beginning of May 2020. North West Electricity come out and said; to fix my neighbours they have to turn my supply off. One hour later my supply was back on but my electric prepayment meter had a blank screen and wasn't working. Rang EON to be told its not an emergency as my electric supply was still on and no engineers can come out to fix due to COVID 19. Fast forward a month later still no working meter. They said they will bill me for what I have used during the meter not working. My concern is due to COVID 19 and no end in sight, how long is it going to take for an engineer to come out. I dont want to get 3 months down the line and landed with a massive bill. I didn't have any debt on the meter prior to this and now I will have due to no fault of my own. Do I have any rights against them for not fixing this? Can I force them to come out and fix it? I have 3 children with one being under 5. Thank you. 

Gerry1

Ofgem says that you may also be eligible for priority services from your supplier and/or network operator if you live with a child under five years old, e.g. "Arrangements to ensure that it’s safe and practical for you to use your prepayment meter".

chloemoran4

Thank you. They say its only a priority if my supply goes off and that no home engineers can come out at all unless supply is off. Frustrating, can't even get to the complaints team as that's not even open. 🙄

MWT

chloemoran4 said:

I didn't have any debt on the meter prior to this and now I will have due to no fault of my own. Do I have any rights against them for not fixing this? Can I force them to come out and fix it? I have 3 children with one being under 5. Thank you. 

Make sure you are putting aside the money you would normally have ben putting on to the meter.

If your usage hasn't changed there is no reason for you to have a debt at the end of this as long as you don't spend the money you should be saving for the meter...