How To Deal With Gas and Electricity Arrears
Preparing To Call Your Supplier
Before you make the call work out how much you owe your energy supplier, and then calculate your personal income and expenditure. You can then work out what you can afford to offer to your energy supplier and more importantly, your figures will be realistic. All energy companies should follow their specific arrears processes so it is important that you visit their website to verify what these are and ideally have a copy available when you call them to discuss your Gas and/or Electricity arrears. You can also ask them to send you a copy if you do not have access to the internet. When calling your energy supplier it is important to remember that you are entitled to only pay back what you can actually afford, and whilst most suppliers will deal with you in a professional manner, do not feel forced into making payments beyond which you can realistically manage. If you feel your supplier is pushing you to do so, you should report them to the industry regulator, energy watch, who are responsible for ensuring that energy suppliers fulfil their responsibilities and follow their procedures. Remember that any arrangement you make will only apply to your arrears not future gas and electricity bill.Be realistic about what you can afford to pay, and address debt problems linked to your gas an electricity as soon as possible.
Options for Dealing with Gas Electricity Arrears
These helpful little plans allow individuals to pay of arrears in instalments whilst continuing to pay for the current electricity or gas they are consuming. Your energy supplier will calculate your payment plan based on what you tell them you can afford to pay and also by making an estimate of your current energy usage. So if you agreed to pay £20 per month off your arrears, your energy supplier might calculate that you are using a further £2 per day and combine this into one payment, meaning that your payment plan would be £80 per month.
Here is how we worked it out;
£2 x 30 (days in a month) = £60.00 + £20 arrears = £80.
Whilst many payment plans are monthly, it is important to remember that they could also be made on a weekly or fortnightly basis, but remember that you should only be expected to pay off your arrears at a level you can afford. You will be expected to pay only what you can afford and these are therefore tailored to your individual financial circumstances and will differ from person to person.
2. Prepayment Meters
It is important to remember that you are entitled to pay off only what you can afford of your arrears and energy companies should not pressure you into paying more. However if you arrange a payment plan and then subsequently fail to keep up repayments you are likely to be forced into accepting a pre payment meter. Very often this is the final option available prior to disconnection. However pre payment meters can be a highly effective way of helping you to manage your finances and ensuring that you maintain an electricity or gas supply to your property.
Your account will be debited with your arrears and you are provided with a card which can be used to purchase gas or electricity credits. You then simply insert the card into your gas or electricity meter and you will receive a specified amount of credit. As well as a means of paying for your current gas and electricity usage, pre payment meters will also debit a small amount of money to cover your arrears, so it is an effective way of managing your debts whilst maintaining the supply to your property. Credit can normally be obtained from shops, garages and other retail outlets although some energy suppliers use tokens as an alternative to smart cards. You should check what the payment method is before you agree to accept a prepayment meter so that you can verify whether there is somewhere to buy credits locally.
3. Alternative Arrears Payment Options
If you are in receipt of state benefits, specifically Income support, Jobseekers allowance or Pension credits then you are entitled to request to have your arrears deducted from your benefit payments. This can sometimes be a better alternative to a pre payment meter and means that you don’t have the hassle of remembering to purchase fuel credits for use in your meter or running the risk of running out of gas or electricity. This option is also helpful if you find it difficult to budget your money and avoids the temptation of spending fuel money on other less essential items. Because your money is deducted by a set amount decided by the Department for Work and pensions, it can sometimes work out less of a strain on your finances than a being pressured into agreeing into a larger arrears payment directly with your energy supplier. Jobcentre Plus are normally responsible for setting up these arrangements, so you should contact you allocated case worker and request information about how to arrange this arrears payment method.
Gas and Electricity Grants For Dealing With Arrears
There are a number of trust funds that have been established by some of the larger utilities suppliers and independent organisations that exist to help with gas and electricity arrears. It is often worth putting in an application to these organisations at the same time as negotiating about arrears payments so here are some helpful links;
The EDF energy trust was set up by one of the largest energy suppliers and is a registered charity. EDF may be able to provide you with a grant to help you pay for either gas or electricity bills, but they also provide money advice and energy efficiency advice to help you remain debt free in the future. You may only apply with you are a present customer of EDF energy, London Energy, Seeboard Energy or SWEB Energy. However if you reside in a property that is supplied by EDF energy but are not responsible for paying the gas or electricity bill, then you can still apply. This is especially helpful if you are a lodger, tenant or student.
www.britishgasenergytrust.org.uk
British Gas are a household name was it comes to gas suppliers and as part of their commitment to helping those in arrears they established the British Gas Energy Saving Trust. Domestic British Gas or Scottish Gas customers can apply to the trust and you can complete their form either online or print a copy off and post it to their free post address. The form is approximately 4 pages in length and you will be asked to list outstanding arrears and give a breakdown of your current income and expenditure on a weekly or monthly basis. You will also be asked to sign the form to confirm that the information you provide is accurate.
Disconnection and Your Rights
Having your gas and electricity supply disconnected is an absolute last resort and most energy companies will want to ensure that they have exhausted every other avenue first. Normally this will only occur if you have failed to meet the terms of any payment plan you have put in place and refuse to offer any type of payment towards your arrears. An energy company has to send you a disconnection notice prior to terminating your gas or electricity supply, failure of them to do this will give you grounds for an appeal and the option to pursue compensation. You must receive seven days notice of any proposed disconnection. Before they send you a disconnection notice they first have to send you a bill, but if they have still not received payment from you twenty eight days after sending your bill, then they are entitled to serve you with a disconnection notice. Energy Watch are the regulator for gas and electricity companies are responsible for ensuring that they act in a fair way towards customers. Energy Watch also deal with customer complaints and are an invaluable source of information for finding out what you rights are as a consumer. You can find more about Energy Watch at www.energywatch.org.uk. Energy Watch also publish numerous guidelines including the steps an electricity supplier must take before disconnection and you can view these here; Disconnection Rights
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How To Deal With Gas and Electricity Arrears