I’ve simply been housed. Now I’m paying another person’s debt on my prepay meter

[ad_1] British Fuel is inflicting me psychological breakdown. I'm a refugee and was grateful to be given a social housing flat. I duly knowledgeable British Fuel, which provides the fuel on a prepayment meter and electrical energy, which was imagined to be billed. They despatched me a brand new code and top-up card and I paid in £60. It turned out the earlier tenant had left a £236 debt, presumably on the electrical energy account. British Fuel siphoned off £54 and left me with £6 value of gasoline.

Over the next weeks I questioned my sanity as a result of each time I rang buyer companies, it stored telling me again and again to do the identical factor, stored claiming that the matter was resolved and stored refusing to register a grievance. One adviser informed me the one answer was for me to pay the debt. When my fuel provide twice lower out, I referred to as the emergency line and technicians visited to use an emergency credit score. I used to be assured the debt had been decoupled from my account and was informed it could take as much as 42 days to refund me the cash they'd taken. I needed to spend Christmas and new 12 months with out heating or sizzling water.

I transferred to Ovo, which, bizarrely, triggered letters from British Fuel welcoming me as a brand new buyer. The primary time I used the Ovo card to prime up, half my credit score disappeared. Seems British Fuel had taken it towards the earlier tenant’s debt. British Fuel mentioned it couldn’t assist as I used to be not a buyer.

I've a authorities voucher of £150 given to folks on low revenue. It should expire in a few days. My selection is to lose it or to donate it to British Fuel.

LA, London

I’ve turn into fairly hardened to buyer failings, however some conditions can nonetheless trigger me to seethe and yours is such a one. You first wrote to me in December. It was imagined to be a time of celebration, you informed me, as a result of after a lot hardship you had secured a flat and a job. However you felt unable to socialize together with your new colleagues as a result of, due to British Fuel, you’d spent weeks with out sizzling water to bathe or launder. You mentioned your flat was so chilly you’d huddle in mattress earlier than and after work and also you typically spent cash you could possibly sick afford on takeaways as a result of washing up was so troublesome.

You undergo from rheumatoid arthritis, which is made worse by the chilly, caught a chest an infection in the course of the weeks with out warmth, and say you turned so burdened you had been unable to eat. British Fuel referred to as you the day after I questioned its conduct, however solely to state that it could refund you the £70 of your cash that it had pocketed inside 28 days. To me it merely declared blandly that it was sorry for the “upset” it had brought on and would offer “goodwill” on prime of the refund.

The latter arrived in a misspelled cheque per week later together with a proposal of £100. You and I agreed that that was derisory given your ordeal and British Fuel upped it to £200, which you accepted. Had you not, I might have suggested you to contact the power ombudsman, which has powers to order redress and compensation if a grievance is upheld.

Though even an ombudsman ruling could be ineffectual. So impervious is British Fuel to buyer struggling that the Centre for Sustainable Vitality (CSE) despatched me an SOS on behalf of MD, a disabled single mom trapped in a see-sawing billing nightmare since 2021.

“At CSE we now have 45 years’ expertise advocating on behalf of individuals with power firms, and this is among the worst instances we’ve ever seen,” it informed me.

MD’s account steadiness has fluctuated wildly between -£4,000 and +£5,000, and regardless of an order by the ombudsman final November to recalculate it, she has but to obtain an correct assertion.

The worry is that if her alleged steadiness deficit plunges beneath £5,000, MD will likely be ineligible for a British Fuel Vitality Belief grant, out there to indebted clients on low incomes.

The issues started when British Fuel raised her inexpensive cost plan with out warning, leaving her struggling to afford meals and unable to warmth her house in winter. She then found that her account was £1,000 in credit score. That was in 2023. Since then she has obtained no invoice and her on-line steadiness has switchbacked between unbelievable four-figure debits and credit.

After I contacted British Fuel it blamed “human errors”. It was “human error” that prevented it issuing an correct invoice after the ombudsman ruling. This omission led, mystifyingly, to a credit score of £5,068.59 displaying on her account. It has now utilized up-to-date meter readings to provide a debt of £1,285.32 which it has written off to gratify the Observer – I imply, MD.

And that’s it from me! That is my remaining Your Issues column for the Observer. These final 13 years of sharing your ache have been a privilege and the reason for a number of white hairs. Better of luck to you all and THANK YOU!