Households set for another painful winter as energy debts mount

But staff are regularly tasked with helping people who speak other languages and have no way of understanding communications from power companies.

In an energy price crisis where courts are granting warrants that see households forced onto prepaid meters, having somewhere in the local community to turn to is vital.

A recent report by Consumer Scotland found that energy advice services are facing a significant increase in demand and prompted calls for investment in the sector to help consumers access support.

Advice Direct Scotland, the charity that runs the country’s national energy advice service, saw its daily volume of calls related to energy quadruple last year.

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In December, when price rises were causing widespread concern across Scotland, an average of 370 calls per day were received – up from an average of 80 during the same month in 2021.

Poppy Ives, energy officer at South Seeds, said demand for services there had similarly soared at the Govanhill-based centre with requests for support to fight against warrants to enter homes increasing.

If a householder can't pay their fuel bill then the energy company can apply to a court for a warrant to force entry to the property and install a prepaid meter.

Ms Ives said: "You're seeing people off supply or choosing to top up their electricity instead of buying food, making really tough decisions, so it's been really bleak.

"We do so many food bank referrals so that just shows how people are struggling to afford food and shelter." 

Earlier this year, when winter fuel bills were putting increasing pressure on household finances, energy companies agreed to cease applying for warrants.

But, Ms Ives said, this was a "sticking plaster" that merely pushed people's debts further down the road to be dealt with at a later time.

She said: "I've been here for two years and warrants for forced installations have been happening that whole time but coverage in the media has meant that everyone's been talking about the situation as though it's new, but it's been going on for ages.

"It's great that the energy companies stopped doing that so during this time, during the crisis, people are still on supply even if they can't afford it.

"But the debt is just going to build up and then they're going to issue more of these warrants to get pre-payment meters.

"To us, it feels like a plaster, it's not solving the problem, it's not making energy bills more affordable, it's not lowering the price.

"It's just putting the debt off essentially."

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Myrtle Breckenridge, another energy advisor at South Seeds, says they are seeing clients who have built up large debts over the winter period - often in excess of £1000 - and warrant action to install a pre-payment meter is being threatened.

She added: "Warrant action is being threatened if a payment plan is not set up. 

"However, the payment plans quoted are unaffordable for the clients because they are already struggling to pay for the ongoing usage without additional debt repayments."

Citizens Advice said it estimated that the number of people unable to afford their energy bills would double from one in 10 people to one in five this year.

Direct debit consumers should be accruing some credit on the account as their usage is less but, due to the price increases, consumers are staying in a negative balance.

Mrytle said this means some customers are facing another difficult winter.

Meanwhile, Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy with the consumer organisation Which? warned the continuing increase in prices is particularly difficult for pre-payment meter customers as they can't spread the costs out evenly over the year.

The Herald revealed anti-poverty campaigners were calling on ministers to ban the forced installation of prepayment meters.

It was found that 100 unpaid bill warrants to have the right to enter homes have been been lodged on average every day in Scotland by energy companies during the cost of living crisis. 

Customers will come in to South Seeds at various points in the execution of a warrant - including after it has already been force fitted.

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If a consumer already has a smart meter they can be remotely changed to prepayment mode by their provider with no access to the home required. 

This often means consumers have no idea they have been moved to prepayment until their supply suddenly goes off and they are told they need to top up to get it back on.

Ms Ives said: "People will come in and say 'somebody came and changed my meter and I don't have any electricity or gas now'.

"So it's really great when people get the letters and open them, first of all, if they're able to understand them, and they come here and we can call the energy companies and we can try to come up with a solution, rather than that warrant go ahead.

"Not everyone has access to energy advice or support so not everyone would have access to that help.

"And loads of people don't read the letters, don't open the letters, or can't understand them, or they just don't know know what to do.

"They see the letter and stress out and they don't know what to do, they put their head in the sand, and a warrant goes out quite often."

Some companies will leave a small amount of emergency credit on the meter but South Seeds has found that customers are often not left with any way to top up the meter so quickly lose access to their energy supply.

Energy companies can offer a translation service but Ms Ives said she had rarely encountered a supplier offer this support.

Ms Breckenridge said: "We very occasionally come across a provider that will offer an interpreting service. But generally this is a massive problem which prevents vulnerable consumers from accessing their provider when they need to."

Ms Ives added: "I've come across it quite often where I'll have an account holder who doesn't speak English but who has brought a friend or family member along to translate.

"[The company] won't take the call because they say they don't know what the translator is saying to the account holder but then they don't have their own translation service.

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"So then, it's like, what are we supposed to do? You're never going to get to talk to your customer, to whom you have a duty of care if they're a vulnerable customer."

In some instances, customers prefer to have a pre-payment meter because it allows them to manage their finances more effectively.

Ironically, however, South Seeds routinely finds that energy companies will refuse to fit a pre-payment meter or refuse switch to a smart meter with pre-payment mode due to a lack of resources.

Ms Ives added: "So it's frustrating to us that we're seeing people coming in the door who have had a pre-payment meter installed when they didn't want it and others are trying to get one installed and they are coming across so many barriers.

"Recently we've been coming across cases where a smart network for smart meters isn't working so they can't do a mode change but this will go on for six months so debt is building up over that time for the customers when it's not their fault."

Increased standing charges mean people might be cutting back considerably but still can't pay their bill.

Ms Ives said: "I have had people say, 'We didn't shower this week, we only had one light on, we all sit in the same room in the evening time' but then they are still seeing that big charge every day."

Energy advice experts at South Seeds say the government should be focused on creating targeted support is for those who are most in need and point to countries where this is achieved with the use of a social tariff. 

The current warm home discount can be complicated to access because different suppliers have different criteria for applying for it. 

South Seeds said many consumers have still not received the Warm Home Discount even though it should have been paid by March 31. 

The scheme is different in Scotland so when you call the provider they give you advice about the England scheme.

Of the energy bill support scheme, South Seeds say many prepayment clients who have struggled to receive the £400 payment even though they should have all been received by March. 

Ms Breckenridge said: "It's now June and its likely that some will miss out on this support completely."

The government’s recent energy summits brought together energy companies, advice agencies and third sector organisations to discuss the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on Scottish households.

Andrew Bartlett, chief executive of Advice Direct Scotland, said: “As the country’s national energy advice service, we have witnessed a sharp rise in the daily number of calls seeking support.

South Seeds has several ongoing complex cases at a time which are often due to supplier error rather than any fault of the consumer. 

Ms Breckenridge said: "These cases take several chase up calls and knowledge of complaints procedures. 

"This means many vulnerable people would not be able to resolve this on their own and would continue to be threatened with debt action without additional support from services like South Seeds."

Ms Ives's colleague tells a story of a complicated case whereby an energy company had made an error with a woman's bill that resulted with her being off supply for two weeks in cold weather.

After nearly four years of trying to fix the issue, a warrant was granted and engineers entered her home to put a cap on her meter. 

She said: "It was a nightmare for her. We're in the process of getting that resolved now but once you have a default on [your credit score] there's not a lot you can do about that.

"She and her husband found themselves in this nightmare totally out of their control. 

"If they didn't have an organisation like ourselves to step in then it would likely never be resolved as this has been ongoing for four years.

"This is just one case in some of the really awful cases we deal with."