Debt arising from supplier's failure to install prepayment meter

HAbod

Hi all, 

Someone I am working with has around £5000 debt on her gas account with British Gas. On moving into her property around 4 years ago she had a credit meter but requested that a prepayment meter be installed as she found those easier for budgeting. Unfortunately this was during covid, and no appointment was made to install. She also didn't set up a payment method.

She has contacted Scottish Gas and requested a prepayment meter be installed, and they have cancelled multiple appointments to come out and put one in (around 15 by her count). She has received one compensation payment of £30 for these.

Obviously it was her responsibility to set up a payment method, but I'm wondering if I could put in a complaint to Scottish Gas on her behalf to reflect the failure on their part to install the meter after she requested it. Has anyone had experience of this situation/something similar? Any information at all would be appreciated. Thank you! 

MattMattMattUK

HAenergyadvisor said:

Hi all, 

Someone I am working with has around £5000 debt on her gas account with British Gas. On moving into her property around 4 years ago she had a credit meter but requested that a prepayment meter be installed as she found those easier for budgeting. Unfortunately this was during covid, and no appointment was made to install. She also didn't set up a payment method.

She has contacted Scottish Gas and requested a prepayment meter be installed, and they have cancelled multiple appointments to come out and put one in (around 15 by her count). She has received one compensation payment of £30 for these.

Obviously it was her responsibility to set up a payment method, but I'm wondering if I could put in a complaint to Scottish Gas on her behalf to reflect the failure on their part to install the meter after she requested it. Has anyone had experience of this situation/something similar? Any information at all would be appreciated. Thank you! 

The account holder can put a complaint in for any reason they want, you cannot unless you have PoA. Whether that complaint would be upheld is entirely separate and I think in this case the answer is no, they cannot get the debt written off because they chose not to pay their bills, if it was that easy then everyone would do it. The best thing to do would be to make sure that the bills are accurate, ask the British Gas if there is anything that they can do, contact the BGET to see if they will make a grant, but you are over the £2k limit. The last part will then be to agree a repayment plan. 
https://britishgasenergytrust.org.uk/grants-available/

Brie

Yes you could put in a complaint on her behalf if she gives you authority to do so.  But if you are "just" a friend trying to be helpful it may not be very successful.  She may have more luck with a debt agency like StepChange, NationalDebtLine, CMA, CAB etc.  Any of those will get her to sign up to their services and she would sign a letter of authority to allow them to work on her behalf.  For some reason creditors tend to take more notice of debt agencies rather than us common citizens.

But if you want to try to assist get her to write/type out something like "I, <hername>, give HA authority to deal with my account on my behalf."   Then add her signature, name, address and the date signed.  

Gerry1

HAenergyadvisor said:

Hi all, 

Someone I am working with has around £5000 debt on her gas account with British Gas. On moving into her property around 4 years ago she had a credit meter but requested that a prepayment meter be installed as she found those easier for budgeting. Unfortunately this was during covid, and no appointment was made to install. She also didn't set up a payment method.

She has contacted Scottish Gas and requested a prepayment meter be installed, and they have cancelled multiple appointments to come out and put one in (around 15 by her count). She has received one compensation payment of £30 for these.

Obviously it was her responsibility to set up a payment method, but I'm wondering if I could put in a complaint to Scottish Gas on her behalf to reflect the failure on their part to install the meter after she requested it. Has anyone had experience of this situation/something similar? Any information at all would be appreciated. Thank you! 

Is it British Gas or Scottish Gas??

HAbod

Thanks everyone for your input! This is a client I am supporting through my work (no points for guessing what I do from my username ) so I would get her to sign a mandate form before communicating with the supplier. I also figured that a complaint probably wouldn't do much, but maybe we can recoup some compensation for the missed appointments to install a prepayment meter. @Gerry1 good spot - it is Scottish Gas, though I'm under the impression that British Gas and Scottish Gas are the same company, just with different names depending on what side of the border you're on? 

Gerry1

HAenergyadvisor said:

Gerry1 good spot - it is Scottish Gas, though I'm under the impression that British Gas and Scottish Gas are the same company, just with different names depending on what side of the border you're on? 

There's probably a Chinese wall between them, so you'll need to contact the right one !

Alnat1

Have the energy company only recently contacted your client about the debt or is this something they have been chasing for some time?

Ectophile

From my understanding of https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1544/contents/made , British Gas are obliged to pay £30 compensation for each missed appointment.  Furthermore, for every time that they haven't made the £30 payment within 10 working days, they owe her another £30 compensation.

If she can work out what dates those appointments were on, and so how many missed appointments there have been, then she should be owed several hundred pounds in compensation.

It's also worth checking if the 1 year back-billing rule applies.  If they have been sending bills, but she never paid any of them, then that's not the fault of British Gas.  If they never sent any bills for years, then the back billing rule would apply.

Mobtr

£30 compensation is only payable if the engineer doesn’t turn up on the day.  If the appointment has been cancelled beforehand by Scottish Power, which the OP has implied, then no compensation would be payable. 

HAbod

Alnat1 said:

Have the energy company only recently contacted your client about the debt or is this something they have been chasing for some time?

Not sure yet, I'm meeting with the client next week to find that out. If they didn't send bills then I will be sure to point out the back billing rules to them.

Ectophile said:

From my understanding of [deleted link as apparently I haven't been around long enough to post them - HAenergyadvisor] British Gas are obliged to pay £30 compensation for each missed appointment.  Furthermore, for every time that they haven't made the £30 payment within 10 working days, they owe her another £30 compensation.

If she can work out what dates those appointments were on, and so how many missed appointments there have been, then she should be owed several hundred pounds in compensation.

It's also worth checking if the 1 year back-billing rule applies.  If they have been sending bills, but she never paid any of them, then that's not the fault of British Gas.  If they never sent any bills for years, then the back billing rule would apply.

Yep, hoping that the client has an idea of how many appointments were made and at what point they were cancelled when we meet next week. Mobtr said:

£30 compensation is only payable if the engineer doesn’t turn up on the day.  If the appointment has been cancelled beforehand by Scottish Power, which the OP has implied, then no compensation would be payable. 

Wasn't aware of this - thanks. Surely if 10+ appointments have been cancelled there would be scope for compensation to reflect the inconvenience of this, regardless of when they were cancelled? 

Mobtr

HAenergyadvisor said:

Alnat1 said:

Have the energy company only recently contacted your client about the debt or is this something they have been chasing for some time?

Not sure yet, I'm meeting with the client next week to find that out. If they didn't send bills then I will be sure to point out the back billing rules to them.

Ectophile said:

From my understanding of [deleted link as apparently I haven't been around long enough to post them - HAenergyadvisor] British Gas are obliged to pay £30 compensation for each missed appointment.  Furthermore, for every time that they haven't made the £30 payment within 10 working days, they owe her another £30 compensation.

If she can work out what dates those appointments were on, and so how many missed appointments there have been, then she should be owed several hundred pounds in compensation.

It's also worth checking if the 1 year back-billing rule applies.  If they have been sending bills, but she never paid any of them, then that's not the fault of British Gas.  If they never sent any bills for years, then the back billing rule would apply.

Yep, hoping that the client has an idea of how many appointments were made and at what point they were cancelled when we meet next week. Mobtr said:

£30 compensation is only payable if the engineer doesn’t turn up on the day.  If the appointment has been cancelled beforehand by Scottish Power, which the OP has implied, then no compensation would be payable. 

Wasn't aware of this - thanks. Surely if 10+ appointments have been cancelled there would be scope for compensation to reflect the inconvenience of this, regardless of when they were cancelled? 

No necessarily if they were cancelled prior to the date of the appointment. It is unusual for that many appointments to be booked and cancelled though so there must be a reason why. Could be they had been out previously & the property isn’t suitable for a prepay meter but the customer keeps booking them, or eventhough the customer says they want a prepay meter, they are avoiding getting one installed because they then have to start paying for their gas so are conveniently out on the day. It does happen. 

You would really need to speak to the supplier to find out why this is happening. There should be notes on the account for each cancellation, I say should, but not always unfortunately. Good luck in getting it sorted & let us know how you get on.