We live on the Isle of Mull and since moving into our house have had to live with the prepayment meter installed by the previous tenant.
For more than a year I have been asking our supplier, SSE Energy, to put in a standard meter because this arrangement isn’t suitable.
To top up we need to go to our local post office. But it only has one staff member and is frequently closed. This means we are at risk of running out of credit with no means of topping up.
Last winter, with an 18-month-old baby, we were very close to losing power, and therefore the heating, when it was freezing outside.
We first asked SSE in November 2020 and are constantly being told it’s being handled.
This is not just an inconvenience but a financial matter, as our energy costs are higher than they would be if we had a standard meter.
We tried going through its internal complaints procedure but to no avail. Our local MSP also contacted SSE on our behalf but still nothing happened.
We probably should have done it sooner but in February we made a formal complaint to the Energy Ombudsman.
It’s now been two winters since we first requested this change.
JG, Isle of Mull
I am inundated with complaints about energy firms but this is one of the longest running sagas I have encountered. The good news is that, with our help, your meter has been changed by Ovo (Ovo bought SSE’s energy supply arm in 2019).
Ovo says: “We’re very sorry for the delay. We can confirm an engineer attended the property and the meter has now been changed.”
As this case is with the ombudsman, Ovo is waiting for its final ruling, which will decide your compensation award – a figure that is likely to be hundreds of pounds.
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