No power disconnection for those with autoimmune disease?

[Hezekiah]

This is potentially an interesting "get out of jail free" card for some folk ,perhaps.

I've never come across it before and wondered if anyone else has?

theguardian.com/commentisfr...

[Hidden]

My understanding is that it doesn’t work quite as the article makes out. Getting a doctor’s letter won’t necessarily prevent you from being disconnected in and of itself. However, if your energy supplier has signed up to the (voluntary) energy UK vulnerability commitment, then that does afford anyone with a disability or chronic health condition protection from being disconnected regardless of a bill debt. Otherwise, energy suppliers can disconnect you, but they have to take vulnerability such as disability or age into account, and offer a range of ways to pay, first. They must also offer you the option of installing a pre-payment credit meter before they’re legally allowed to disconnect. It’s a long read, but there’s lots of information about energy bill disputes including vulnerable customers here:

nationaldebtline.org/fact-s...

[AgedCrone]

Look on citizens advice.org.uk…it sets out quite clearly how utility companies must legally deal with non payment of bills.

However, I think this must’ve been written before the present situation and I really can’t see them being allowed to cut off gas or electricity to anybody.

But keep checking websites.

[Fruitandnutcase]

I didn’t think they could disconnect you - put you on a prepayment meter was how I interpreted it.

I find it totally wrong though that people on a prepayment meter - presumably because they find it the most difficult to pay their bills - are the people who are being forced into paying a higher rate per unit than those on a normal meter.

That, to me, is completely wrong and something should be done about it so that gas and electricity are the same price per unit for everyone.

[chunkypie in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

and the standing charge is higher 😐

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to chunkypie]

I mean that is really is absolutely dreadful.

[HappykindaGal]

As far as I know, utility companies won’t disconnect anyone but as already said, will install a payment meter. The debt is still owed however and that won’t go away. And it will sit on your credit rating so not entirely a great outcome.

The predictions are averages. To understand our own situation better, it’s the unit cost that count. My bill will be nowhere close to the average that is portrayed in the media. Try not to let it panic you. It’s not great, but it may not be as bad as you fear.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to HappykindaGal]

I agree with you, hopefully our bill will be lower than average too. Especially as at long last I have managed to persuade my husband that he needs to turn off his computer and other electrical gadgets that up until now have been left switched on all day and night. I’ve always been someone who has gone around annoying the family by switching lights off if no one is in the room.

We have also gradually switched over to low cost LED light bulbs and apart from our router nothing else is running in the background. It’s taken a while (well years) but he has finally come round to my way of thinking.

Hopefully we’re not going to be going back to the bad old pre-central heating days when the house was heated with a coal fire and when the frost patterns were on the inside of the bedroom windows and I used to take my clothes into bed with me and get dressed under the covers. Unfortunately it looks as if we might well be and I feel sorry for the generation who have never experienced a chilly house where you had to wrap up warm - even when you were indoors.

[HappykindaGal in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Oh yes! Ice inside the window. Brrrrr. I think people may have to understand that they need to wear a jumper sometimes and not have the heating on full blast all day to wear shorts and t-shirts in the middle of winter.

I run a business from home and I'm a monkey for leaving computers running

[Hidden in reply to HappykindaGal]

In the winter I can’t move unless I am warm. The heating is on all day. If I cut back on this I will be in great pain and unable to move.

[Green230461 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

I went to school with brown paper under my jumper to keep in the heat! So much for progress!!!😡

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Green230461]

Oh I remember those days. I wore a thing called a liberty bodice and my brother and I had little ‘siren suits’. Think I need one of them again - suppose it’s just like a onesie

[Green230461 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Oh siren suits- used to keep you warm and look like a car mechanic!Then they became play suits and now onesies!

Get your damart knickers ready!💐

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Green230461]

🤣 😂😂

[nanapat61 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

My sisters and I wore liberty bodices too! Their rubber buttons were great 'emergency' pencil erasers as well - I used to pull one out of the gap between the blouse buttonholes when needed.🤣

[Hezekiah in reply to Green230461]

Is brown paper an effective insulator? Did you crackle?

[Green230461 in reply to Hezekiah]

Only when I ran for the bus! Yes it was a great insulator 🥵

[AgedCrone in reply to HappykindaGal]

You are right… I don’t know where they get the figures from ….quoting such huge bills that people already have to pay… I don’t know anybody who pays these sums in a house.

I read the other day that if you buy a new energy efficient oven that would cost you £250 ….if you used it at 170°C for one hour a day now …it would save you £53 per year…. Or roughly £1 per week ?

But to do that….you had to spend £250 on the new oven… so in 5 years you haven’t actually saved anything yet.

The article said leaving a TV on standby is£16 PER YEAR..Microwave £5. Printer£6. Games Console£22. One light £23 .

So just over a pound a week?

Tbh I’m not scrabbling around to get at the TV plug for £16pa…ditto the MW & Printer….& how many people actually leave a light on all night…except maybe a very low powered one in a child’s bedroom?

These days you can have movement activated lights so if you want to go anywhere in the dark….the light comes on….for free except for maybe a £1 battery once in a while.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to AgedCrone]

Oh I don’t know - I bet there are a few teenagers who do it.

I have a set of little rechargeable, battery operated, movement activated lights to guide me to the loo in the dark.

[AgedCrone in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

If any teenager left a light on all night in my house….I’d confiscate the bulb!!!

Yes there are ways to save electricity.......I used to leave the hall light on if I was coming home in the dark, but now I have a movement activated light on the hall table…& Nerd that I am I wrote down the date I renewed the battery & it lasted 6 weeks…..from a pack of 12 batteries that cost £1.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to AgedCrone]

Ha, ha, that reminds me of when one of mine was younger and TV obsessed when he should have been studying for his exams I eventually took the fuse out of the TV plug. It was a case of ‘oh dear, the tv isn’t working? I wonder what’s wrong with it?’ Probably a bit underhand but it avoided any arguing about watching TV.

Funnily enough that child went on to work in TV production so his TV time wasn’t actually wasted.

I just found it really irritating to have people fall asleep with the lights on. Could say the same about my other half who falls asleep ‘watching’ the TV at night.

[AgedCrone in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

But why is it if I fall asleep in front of the TV…it happens when I have turned it on to watch a specific programme….& wake up just as it ends?

[cyberbarn]

Most energy companies have always allowed disabled people to be registered as such. My son gets PIP and ESA (they haven't switched us to UC in our area yet) and a few years ago I let the electricity company know that we have a disabled person in the house. It was a bit of hoop jumping, because he isn't the person paying the bills, but we got there in the end. This means that when ever there is a power outage (we live in a rural area) they make sure we are okay and back online as quickly as possible. It doesn't really matter that much in the summer but in the winter it if we had an outage for more than a couple of hours it would be a problem.

There is also the Warm Home Discount that can be applied for every year. Once the money is gone for that, the close the applications for that year. Every energy company is different though, so it is worth having a look at the website of which ever energy provider you have.

So it is worth anyone who is disabled at least starting at this point as the companies may be using this register in order to distribute other discounts as prices rise.

[AgedCrone in reply to cyberbarn]

I think there must be some sort of Register…..a few years ago - pre Covid - in a very cold winter British Gas called me to ask if I had any alternative heating to my gas central heating. I was not a BG customer but they gave me a number to call should my heating fail.

I didn’t save it I‘m afraid….but I’m sure if anyone knows anybody who might need help, I’m sure BG would have that number.

[oldtimer2]

I'm registered with all the utilities as a vulnerable person. I qualify not only because of my disabilities but also on age grounds. Well worth doing this.

[Chrissycl]

Same with my water company . I'm registered on their priorities list and now had a letter from them saying I'm exempt from the hosepipe ban.

[chunkypie]

I can only speak for myself and what i pay. I know energy bills are and will go up but as usual the media are trying to whip up the general public into a frenzied panic.i've been looking at my past bills for the utilities and have picked the most expensive Gas bill for the last four years. My electric is on a pre payment meter. I'm in a two bed house with a Teenager that lives in the shower and who doesnt understand the concept of light switches.

My electric has gone from £45 per month to £100 per month. My gas has not changed at the moment.

Going by past Bills and media projections im estimating that my annual bill for both together will be about £1500-£1600 per year. Thats about £134 per month, No where near the £3549 quoted in the press.

All i would say is wait and see how your affected and ignore the "panic !!" headlines that are there to get you hooked to the papers, Websites and TV Channels.

[Hidden]

To add to some comments above, I went on an ‘energy/ cost of living calculator’. My combined gas & electric bill will go up by about £10 a week, so £500 ish per annum. I’m on a fixed tariff until July, so am just overpaying every month on my DD, so that I am in credit by a chunk when that time comes. Some of the figures quoted in the press are really scaring people. I appreciate a figure of £10 can greatly affect people on very tight budgets, and that is many people, but I do think the media should be more responsible. Saying that however, I am not on a prepayment meter, and not on a variable tariff. Like always in times of crisis, it is the poor who will suffer the most.