Energy companies refusing to swap my elderly mother from prepayment meter

IHateEnergyCompanies

Apologies if something goes wrong, I'm not good with technology. My mother who is in her 80's has recently moved into a bungalow due to decreased mobility. Sadly this bungalow uses prepayment meters rather than credit meters. The meters themselves are in a box on the floor which she can't possibly be expected to get too!

I've switched her around a few energy companies trying to find one that will accommodate her but seem to be getting nowhere. Sadly, due to her being old school she has never had any credit cards, loans etc and as a result keeps failing the credit checks for all the providers. They keep insisting that she pays £300 upfront to have the meters changed! If she had a SMART meter it would be free, but she apparently doesn't get coverage from the network so can't request one at this time.

She can't afford £300 just to have some meters changed! If it was someone a bit younger and a bit more mobile, then fair enough. But this is an 82 year old widow on a pension! What's more, they tell us that if her prepayment meters weren't working correctly, they would replace them with SMART meters free of charge...  They would just act like "dumb" credit meters until the network is live. But since the meters are working then there's nothing they can do!

She was sat without power for 2 days as she couldn't get to the meter to put the emergency credit on and she couldn't telephone anyone as she had a cordless phone (which obviously stopped working... I have replaced this with a corded one now)

I'm pursuing this with the Ombudsman at the recommendation of citizens advice (who even telephoned her provider and tried to explain the situation, still wouldn't budge) but apparently that can take a few months.

I've topped the meters up with £30 each which is even hard for me to do as I lost my job due to Covid. Is there anything else I should be doing to try and get this resolved? I did you with the idea of pouring super glue into the card slot or cracking the LCD screen (therefore rendering the meters faulty) but I think they might pick up on that! 

Gerry1

Is she on their Priority Services Register?  If not, register her now.

Try switching to EDF who don't run a credit check.

Send a letter headed COMPLAINT - VULNERABLE PERSON - URGENT to the CEO whose info can be found at the CEOemail website, and get a Certificate of Posting.

Robin9

Put the account in your name.

MWT

IHateEnergyCompanies said:

... The meters themselves are in a box on the floor which she can't possibly be expected to get too!

It sounds like the property was unsuitable for her in the first place, is there any scope to get her moved to somewhere more appropriate?

It may not solve the problem, but if she is not already on the Priority Register with the energy company have her added to it, it may help.

macman

Robin9 has given the obvious solution above. Use your name, but her bank details for the DD.