Swalec Treating Me Bad

lillymay1975_2

Hi

I hope someone can help. I have been quite ill for many months now, and have been struggling to pay my mortgage let alone gas and electric i'm with swalec for both. Anyway it all came ot a head this week, got gas bill which is £876 and a electric bill for £954 basically ehen i rang they said unless i pay them there and then the full amount, they are coming on the 10th april to fit meters, and i will have to put £10 electric and £10 gas each week to pay the debt. This is before i actully put any credit in for the week, i am getting £93 per week IB, how the hell can i afford this? They were really horrible on the phone a 18 year old telling me if i paid for the fuel i would not be in this mess, was his answer, and he said that if i did not conform to the meters they would take me to court. what can i do, i really cannot afford this each week, i have heard about direct fuel payments from my benefit, about £3 a week, is this right? has anyone else had this, any help would be appreciated please...

Ken68

You want Fuel Direct, Lilly....more info here.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/DebtsAndArrears/DG_10025592

Also do not try to handle this all by yourself. The Citizen Advice Bureau or better still this forum's Benefit section.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=23

stimpo

Fuel Direct may not be given. First option may be Prepay meters with the debt set at £3 per week.

Cardew

At £3 a week it will take you over 6 years to pay pay what you owe.


You really to need to go to the CAB for advice.

EnergyMan_3

stimpo wrote: »

Fuel Direct may not be given. First option may be Prepay meters with the debt set at £3 per week.

Yeah from what I understand, you can only go onto Fuel Direct if pre-payment meters are not an option i.e, you do not have 24hr access to the meter or your are physically unable to top the meters up. So if a pre-payment meter CAN be installed, they will set it to recover the debt at £3 per week.

Try asking your energy supplier if they have any grants/financial help towards the bills. A lot of the energy suppliers have trust funds set up which sometimes look to go about clearing customers debt. Also, water companies sometimes have trust funds set up to clear utility debt, so check with your water company.

lillymay1975_2

Hi all thanks for the advice
Just spoke to someone from swalec, which i was given the number from energy watch, great help they have been, they are accepting payments from my IB as long as i can afford it, the jobcentre said i can. Swalec just rang and someone is calling here for me to sign a form for them to go ahead and start deducting, strange someone is calling to my home, do you think they are checking up on me? oh i hope this will be ok, i have not slept in nights worried about this? thanks for the info again you have all been a gods send

Ken68

If you are on the vulnerable/elderly register with Swalec, they will look after you. But they gotta make sure you are what you are.

lillymay1975_2

Hi all

they called this afternoon, bit shocked they wanted me to sign a form even though they did not know how much was being deducted from my IB, so i told them i would not sign until they told me how much, anyway really gutted they lowest they will accept is £14.50 gas and £13.50 electric a week, so i do not have much left from my IB each week, i am in the process of having my home reposessed, as we tried to remortgage with somone else and the house was down valued, they will only give us £82000 and we need £88000, £7000 of that is arrears, so i am so fed up? but thanks anyway

lillymay1975_2

the plot thickens with swalec?
basically they cannot take payments from my incapacity benefit, and IB don;t care, this is what they want me to pay now via dd each month

I get about £240 a month IB they want

£67 per month electric
£75 pe month gas

can you believe this, they don't care told me to go and get a crisis loan and that it, if i do not contact them by fiday they are cutting me off

No help nothing oh what the hell can i do this is almost 3/4 of my IB

Joyful

The only other solution is to arrange a prepayment meter with a weekly recovery rate of £3. This way you can cut down on consumption as you will be aware of how much you are using. Also check and see if you are entitled to loft insulation and cavity wall insulation as these can reduce your usage.

mute_posting

Sorry to hear about the situation you are in OP.

As Joyful says prepayment meters maybe a good idea if they mean the debt recovery is only going to be £3 a week and as mentioned you will be a lot more concious of usage when you have to put a card in the meter.

Also look at free ways you can save energy. i.e. if your hot tank isn't well lagged and you have a spare duvet or blanket - wrap that around to help reduce heatloss.

block up any draughts, drop you heating a notch if you can.

Perhaps some more tips on old style board that may help also