We live on the Isle of Mull and since moving into our house we have had to live with a prepaid meter that was installed by the previous tenant.
Over a year ago, I’ve been asking our supplier, SSE Energy, to put together a standard meter because this arrangement is not appropriate.
To fill in the balance, we need to go to our local post office. But it only has one employee and it is often closed. This means that we are at risk of running out of credit with no way to top up.
Last winter, with an 18-month-old, we were on the verge of losing power, and therefore heating, when it was cold outside.
We asked first SSE in November 2020 and you are constantly being told that it is being handled.
This is not just an inconvenience but a financial issue, as our energy costs are higher than if we had a standard meter.
We tried to follow up on the internal complaints procedure but to no avail. Our local MSP also contacted SSE on our behalf But nothing has happened yet.
Maybe we should have done it sooner But in February we filed a formal complaint with the Energy Ombudsman.
It’s now been two winters since we first requested this change.
JG, Mull Island
I’ve been inundated with complaints about power companies, but this is one of the longest stories I’ve come across. The good news is that, with our help, your meter has been changed by Ovo (Ovo purchased SSE’s power supply arm in 2019).
“We are very sorry for the delay,” says Ovo. “We can confirm the presence of an engineer at the property and the counter has now been changed.”
As this case is with the Ombudsman, Ovo is awaiting their final ruling, which will decide whether to compensate you – a number likely to be hundreds of pounds.
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