Valerie’s victory over multiple energy companies:
I have had battles with Gas companies, the first one was the British Gas company. I had a problem when I first started out with British Gas, they put a large amount of money on my bill which they say I owed to them. This was not true owing to the fact that I was hardly ever at home and stayed on a regular basis at my partner’s home. The Gas was on a quarterly term and was not being used as much as they billed me. However I fought every inch of the way to proof my point and won. I was put into a situation where they wanted hundreds of pounds from me, I knew it wasn’t right and I decided was to fight them through and through.
I went to the citizen’s advice bureau and contacted the company. I saved up all my payment receipts which I paid at my local corner shop and produced it as evidence so that the debt was cleared and the problem was solved, showing that I owed British Gas nothing.
I then decided to change to E.D.F. which I personally thought were going to be better, but after a few months they were acting in the same way British Gas had. My bill was high again and I got fed up with another trauma so I took all my problems to the local advice centre. I tried verbally fighting with E.D.F on the phone, I told them that they should not rob poor people, that I was poor and had not used the gas that they said I had used, and if a disaster came we would all be living in the same way because everything would be destroyed, including the gas.
I took my problems to the advice centre, and with constant phone calls and the proof with bills and other paperwork, E.D.F decided to reduce the bills and paid some money towards them for me.
Brenda’s account of British Gas’s habit of forced installation of prepayment meters:
I am a very ill and disabled lady I use a walker, a crutch and a wheelchair depending on how severe my damaged pelvis is daily.
I arranged with British Gas a few months ago to have my payments taken out of my benefits monthly. I received a letter telling me that it still hadn’t been taken out of my benefits. I rang British Gas and they told me to wait longer as they had informed the DWP.
I was awoken today by two British Gas meter fitters. They had a warrant from the magistrates court to put a gas meter OUTSIDE my bungalow. They could plainly see I could not walk well and that I had a walker and a crutch and a wheelchair. They started asking the neighbours if I could walk ok and telling them I how much I owed.
I cannot get outside to the gas meter to check on how much is in the meter. Sometimes my pelvis goes altogther and I can’t walk and I have severe asthma and have regular asthma attacks in hot and cold weather especially. I also have thin bones disease abd bowel disease , Arthritis and Fibromyalgia. My pelvis split when I gave birth to my son 26 years ago . I was crippled and had to learn to walk again. I have to wear a brace. I phoned the gas board up whilst the men where here and the man at the gas board told the men to leave it because they had not informed the judge that I was disabled and they had not informed me they were going to court to get a warrant.
They still refused to go and forced me to have the meter in. I have no way of knowing how much is in the meter unless I struggle outside to see in the meter. They have not left me a card meter to buy gas on and they have left me with no gas. They installed the meter then they told me the boiler was broke so there was no gas. Then thy left me screaming and crying and having an asthma attack. When the gas goes I will have no gas at all . I haven’t got a card to get anymore and I can’t go outside to put nay in or see if I have any credit I have no idea how it works.
Is there anything I can do. They have frauded the court because they never informed the judge that I was disabled and ill.