URGENT PLEASE - Son’s electricity cut off SSE can’t get answer!!

onthecase

Could anyone help please? My son is with SSE and was advised they want to fit a smart meter with top up card (he pays monthly dd) in his rented property. This has been arranged for 14TH January 2022.
yesterday morning the electricity supply was cut off - he has been on the phone for hours passed from dept to dept but they keep saying top up your meter! He hasn’t got a top up meter!!!
He has only just started back at work after redundancy through covid and has mental health/PTSD issues.
He is now in a freezing cold, no lights on house and his food in the freezer is ruining, plus no cooking facilities. 

The latest text message from SSE -  top up your meter!!!
I am besides myself with worry as his mental health is not good.
Does anyone know how I can get the supply reinstated immediately - he only has  a deficit of £150 on the monthly account so I dont understand why they have cut off the supply and why they are installing a meter?
He is getting nowhere, and spent hours on the phone yesterday to no avail - his boss also said stop using the phone!
I am desperate! 

Sea_Shell

How have they cut off his supply if he doesn't already have a smart meter?   I didn't think old "dumb" meters could be disconnected remotely?

Are you sure it isn't a localised power cut, or blown master fuse?

Astria

So what meter does he have at the moment? Even if it was a smart meter they wouldn't cut off the supply without a pre-disconnection visit or several calls. Regardless of the deficit, if his DD is still being paid on time they wouldn't cut him off for that (I had a deficit of £180 last winter - they didn't bother sending me an email until 6 months later when I requested to switch).

MWT

If they have already reached the stage of replacing the credit meter with a Pre-pay meter then there may have been other communication that you were not aware of, but set that aside for the moment...

Where is his meter and is it a smart meter?

If it is a smart meter then they would not have to visit to change it and they may have already done that.

Robin9

Sea_Shell said:

How have they cut off his supply if he doesn't already have a smart meter?   I didn't think old "dumb" meters could be disconnected remotely?

Are you sure it isn't a localised power cut, or blown master fuse?

Agree -  may be nothing to do with SSE.

Check with neighbours first - if they also have no supply ring his DNO and say neighbours affected.  Even if they still have supply ring the DNO and report no supply - it may be that master fuse.

[Deleted User]

Robin9 said:

Sea_Shell said:

How have they cut off his supply if he doesn't already have a smart meter?   I didn't think old "dumb" meters could be disconnected remotely?

Are you sure it isn't a localised power cut, or blown master fuse?

Agree -  may be nothing to do with SSE.

Check with neighbours first - if they also have no supply ring his DNO and say neighbours affected.  Even if they still have supply ring the DNO and report no supply - it may be that master fuse.

The irony here is that a smart meter would allow the supplier and DNO to check where the fault sits in the system. This is what the smart grid is all about. FWiW, most suppliers have an emergency number to call in these situations. It will be on their website and on the monthly statement. Is the OP’s son on the Priority Services Register?

onthecase

thank you - what is DNO? Neighbours have supply. Not on priority system, mental health doesn’t seem to count … 

jbuchanangb

DNO is the distribution network operator. The people who actually run the wires that bring the energy to the house. The quickest way to reach them is to call 105. Call them, and say that house has lost all power. They will help sort it out.

Swipe

Is the display still active on the meter?

dbks

Sea_Shell said:

How have they cut off his supply if he doesn't already have a smart meter?   I didn't think old "dumb" meters could be disconnected remotely?

Are you sure it isn't a localised power cut, or blown master fuse?

Perhaps they've been round with a warrant and pulled his main fuse for not paying his bills?
- although that is usually a very last resort, and unlikley to have been granted if the OP's son had bothered to content the application, especially when the supplier has plans to install a pre-payment meter (albeit smart)

welshmoneylover

Has the meter been switched from dumb mode to a prepay meter remotely? 

 Has he had an electrician around to check everything, ?
when was the last time he paid by dd?