Sometimes, energy supply to a home can be too complicated and daunting for a resident to resolve. This was the case for a man from the Gypsy Roma Traveller community who had moved into a day unit on a fixed Traveller site. He believed OVO were supplying the property, but had not been able to set up an account or make any payments, and though he knew there was a debt on the account he didn’t know how much or how he might pay it all off.
Our community-based adviser spent four months from referral, speaking with the client to build up the trust he needed to allow an initial home visit.
Once on site, in the role of ‘authorised third party’ she was able to liaise between OVO and Powys County Council on the client’s behalf to unravel the complications with the energy supplier, making sure the client and his on-site support fully understood what was happening through this lengthy process.
It turned out the meter associated with property was not recognised by the national data base. Once a meter replacement was in hand, our adviser established what debts had accrued, and got the client’s billing periods adjusted before negotiating a manageable repayment plan. This was not straightforward, as she received conflicting information from OVO customer service agents. During the third home visit and after lengthy negotiations that spanned four separate OVO departments, the adviser also negotiated the removal of £250 from the client’s bill in recognition of the delays and confusion this had caused.
While all this was happening, our adviser worked hard to give her client, who was also living with health and learning difficulties, the confidence to understand for himself the ongoing costs. She explained how he could save energy, and what he should expect to be paying to keep himself out of debt in the future.
It took six months, three home visits, nine lengthy (up to two hours) phone calls, and a series of involved and protracted email exchanges but however complex the issue seems, we’re here to help.
“We could never have done that by ourselves,” said the gentleman and his supporter on-site: “Thank you so much.”
