E Prepayment and MoneyPlus Energy

Neilly_

Hi there!

First-time Forumer: long time reader!
So I moved into a new local authority-rented property in 2017 and inherited 2x prepay meters belonging to Scottish Gas. (British Gas). I tried to get it changed to a dry meter, but they would not allow this for whatever reason. I was, however, able to switch when a company I hadn't heard of, E, who offer prepay only, came around the doors showing me the saving I could get. I was told at the door that no one would change prepay meters over anymore (no explanation given but seemed to correlate with what SG had told me) and they were the cheapest rates for both G & E in my area (North Lanarkshire, Scotland). They also said they would change the meters to their own and give me a smart meter shortly after beginning as a customer. They put me on their special rate for the time and said I would receive £50 back as a loyalty bonus after being with them for 12 months. As a, now single dad, I jumped at the chance of cheaper rates, an app to top up via instead of taking a key to a PayPoint and fifty quid in my tail and did so.

After the special offer period was over, I think about 18 months, I noticed my gas rate shoot up and started to hunt around for a better deal. However, I was unable to: a) find a better prepayment deal and b) get any company to agree to change me to a dry meter so that I could take advantage of duel fuel discount, direct debit discount etc.

Around 6 months ago, a young lady from a company working on behalf of MoneyPlus Energy came a-knocking and showed me on her tablet how much I could save switching to MoneyPlus. Again, I decided to go ahead as moving gas and electricity to them and remaining on a prepay meter was better than doing nothing at all.

Some time passed after the initial phone calls to make sure I was happy with switching and I had heard nothing. I was told this was normal but decided to check my spam folder (something I don't often do for some stupid reason) and found they had sent me a few messages saying that the gas was accepted but the electricity had not been. I replied to the email but by the time I got a reply, I was informed that they had gone ahead and made the switch anyway, even though they had asked me if I still wanted to go ahead with Gas only and maybe I had arrears or something with the electricity (which I did not, it was always in credit as I always overestimated the amount of money I put in at the end of the month when I got paid). I told them I wasn't happy with that and that they could have done more to make sure I still wanted to go ahead. There had been no physical mail from them (until this week saying I now owe them money...) even though my E app is still allowing me as recently as yesterday to top up the gas and have it show on my prepay.

Now, not to get the sympathy vote, but I have moderate mental health issues. I am diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and borderline personality disorder which is a very contradictive coupling. I struggle with my short-term memory and have issues in concentrating, budgeting and understanding most of what's been told to me. Part of my BPD symptoms are disassociation, similar to that of someone with ADHD (ADD) and I just can't deal with this. Days can go by before I remember I was meant to call someone or email some department and I end up in major trouble and I fear I have done the same here, however, something tells me I am overthinking it and that perhaps MoneyPlus should not have gone ahead on a different contract to that which I agreed to at the doorstep and signed for.

Long story, I know and if you've read until the end, then you have my gratitude. I'm not a stupid or ignorant person but this just baffles me to the point where I can no longer concentrate on trying to figure it out for any longer than a few minutes, then I just automatically disengage.

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction or give me some advice on what I can do next, if anything.

Many thanks!
Martin O'Neill