The Sunday Mail - 01.09.2019

(^) The Mail on Sunday September 1 • 2019
Fobbed off for 2 years:
90-year-old stung by
energy bill
100 personal finance
W
HEN 90-year-old Fred
Birkett was told by his
energy provider that
the meter in his mod-
est bungalow needed
changing he thought
little of it.
Like most in the Lincolnshire area
where they live, Fred and wife Dor-
othy – who is 88 and suffers from
bone marrow cancer – were paying
between £1,000 and £1,200 a year
for gas and electricity but were
told their meter needed to be
changed.
But, to the Birketts’ alarm, their
bills began to skyrocket after the
new device had been installed.
The following year, they paid
more than £3,000 to E.On. Then last
year their combined gas and elec-
tricity bill hit an astonishing £4,000

• quadruple the price they were
  paying before.
  Nothing about the Birketts’ energy
  usage has changed since before the
  meter was replaced. Fred says no
  lights are left on when not in use
  and the TV is never left on standby.
  By comparison, the annual bill for
  average energy use in the East Mid-
  lands last year was £1,284 and
  £1,318 for Britain as a whole.
  Fred says: ‘I have a long list of
  names of people I have spoken to at
  E.On about this but no one has ever
  dealt with it. It seems as if the right
  hand doesn’t know what the left
  hand is doing. I have had two years
  of worry and sleepless nights. And
  I have been trying to shield the
  issues from my wife as she has
  enough to deal with. It really is get-
  ting me down.’
  With E.On refusing to budge, Fred
  arranged for a boiler engineer and
  his electrician to review the supply
  of energy into his house – only to be
  reassured all was fine. Neither
  could understand the cause of such
  high energy bills, yet E.On kept
  insisting the bills were correct.
  Finally at his wits’ end, Fred con-
  tacted The Mail on Sunday. We
  asked E.On to investigate properly
  to find out why Mr Birkett’s bills are
  so much higher than average. It has
  now replaced the meter once again.
  Fred says: ‘It feels as if no one
  cares about anything except getting
  the day over with. Even if this is
  somehow my fault, I think E.On
  should have made the problems
  clear to me at some point within the
  last two years.’ A spokeswoman for

E.On says: ‘We have being working

to resolve Mr Birkett’s concerns

and have spoken to Mr Birkett’s

granddaughter at length.

‘We have explained that the

amount of energy used is in keeping

with Mr Birkett’s past usage, how-

ever due to price changes in 2018

and 2019, costs have unfortunately

increased. We have offered to both

test the meter as well as make a

home energy efficiency visit and

await to hear back.’

Experts say the poor service that

Fred and Dorothy experienced at

the hands of an energy giant is mir-

rored across the country – and the

problem is particularly acute for

the elderly and those in poor

health.

Energy regulator Ofgem will this

month publish its annual vulnera-

ble consumers report. A recent vul-

nerability report commissioned by

Energy UK – the trade body that

represents energy suppliers –

warned that the industry is ‘inade-

quate and inconsistent’ in its

dealings with such customers who

are more likely to suffer problems

than their neighbours.

The problem has spiralled to the

point that consumer group Citizens

Advice has been forced to double

the number of caseworkers on its

extra help unit – the specialist team

that investigates complaints linked

to vulnerability – to cope with a ris-

ing number of cases in the past five

years.

Consumers raised 186,057 energy

problems with Citizens Advice in

the 12 months to May this year,

with 13,452 vulnerable cases dealt

with by its special unit.

Gillian Guy, chief executive of

Citizens Advice, warns that cus-

tomers in need often don’t contact

their suppliers for help. And when

they do, they don’t always receive

the right support. She says: ‘The

costs of getting this wrong can be

far more than just financial.’

Guy cites an example of a woman

with physical and mental health

problems who was rescued by the

extra help unit.

She owed money to her supplier,

which wanted repayments of £260 a

month to clear the debt. The woman

couldn’t afford such high monthly

sums but could not get through to

anyone at the company to discuss

this, and it failed to contact her

in return.

Then she received text messages

threatening disconnection, aggra-

vating her mental health conditions.

Guy says the unit was able to

By Laura Shannon

Don’t want a smart meter? Just say no...

By Toby Walne

STERLING’S increasingly rocky
ride on the currency markets
means holidaymakers should
brace themselves for a bill of
possibly hundreds of pounds on
top of the amount already paid for
a package deal this autumn.
‘Surcharge’ rules in the small
print of holiday terms and
conditions allow travel firms to
demand 8 per cent on top of the
original price. Those who have
forked out £3,500 for a holiday
could now end up having to pay
almost £300 extra for the trip.
Using the excuse of fluctuating
exchange rates, higher fuel costs,
tax changes and other new fees,
travel companies can add on these
sneaky charges – all perfectly
legally – and accepted by industry
trade body the Association of
British Travel Agents.
Experts fear there may be a
wave of hikes in the coming weeks
as Britain prepares to leave the
European Union on October 31.
Members of Abta must absorb
the first 2 per cent of any increase
in vacation costs caused by the

weak pound. But a firm can still

end up demanding holidaymakers

pay an 8 per cent surcharge on top

of the total paid – right up until 20

days before departure.

If a firm charges more than this

extra amount, customers have the

right to cancel and claim a full

refund with no penalties.

Major operators such as Mark

Warner Holidays slapped

holidaymakers with a surcharge

of up to £50 following a drop in the

value of sterling against the dollar

and euro after the 2016

referendum.

Its booking conditions state:

‘Price increases or decreases after

booking will be passed on by way

of a surcharge.’

Those offering ski trips,

including Wasteland Ski and

Gower Tours, which also

previously hit customers with

surcharges, could also strike again

this autumn. Wasteland terms and

conditions say: ‘We reserve the

right to increase the price of your

holiday after you have booked.’

Gower explains: ‘The price of your

travel arrangements may change

after you have booked.’

Other tour operators, including

Jet2 Holidays, Lastminute and

Loveholidays, offer similar

phrases. In the terms and

conditions Jet2 admits: ‘We reserve

the right to change the price of

your holiday.’ Lastminute explains:

hundreds of pounds extra for

existing bookings.’

An Abta spokesman says: ‘The

situation around Brexit is evolving.

It is impossible to predict the

impact it may have on costs.’

Have you been hit with a holiday

surcharge? Contact toby.walne@

mailonsunday.co.uk

As experts warn elderly are failed by power giants...

contact her supplier on her behalf

to agree a more manageable pay-

ment plan.

Other examples of bad practice

raised in the vulnerability report

include a pensioner with arthritis

and poor eyesight who was asked to

take meter readings – even though

it required her to stand on a chair.

And that is despite the fact she was

listed on the supplier’s system as a

vulnerable customer.

Anyone on a supplier’s priority

service register should get help

with meter readings.

It is a free service available to

people who are of pensionable age,

chronically sick, have a long-term

medical condition, have a hearing

or visual disability or are vulnera-

ble in another way.

laura.shannon@mailonsunday.

co.uk

Why the holiday you’ve already

paid for could cost hundreds more

SHOCK: Skiing holidays may go up

£4

,

000

‘The price of your package may

change after you have booked.’

Loveholidays tackles the risk of a

future price hike by saying: ‘We

may change the price of your

package after we have issued our

booking confirmation.’

In contrast, outfits such as British

Airways Holidays, Thomas Cook

and Tui, have gone out of their way

to assure clients they will not be

levying surcharges later this year.

For example, Thomas Cook has a

‘Brexit price guarantee’ not to hike

prices ‘no matter what happens’.

Naomi Leach, travel expert at

consumer body Which?, says:

‘Millions who have already paid

for a package deal could be in for

a nasty surprise if travel firms

use this little-known rule to charge

n^ Toby Walne

HOUSEHOLDERS are being told

to stand up against energy

suppliers that try to trick them

into accepting a smart meter

against their will.

The roll-out of the energy-

reading meter has proved chaotic

since the £11 billion project was

launched five years ago.

Problems such as displays

malfunctioning and meters going

‘dumb’ after switching supplier

affect a third of all those who

accept the new equipment, says

comparison website uSwitch.

Many people also feel they are

bullied into accepting the new

gadgets – wrongly being told the

change is necessary or that if

they do not switch they face

heftier energy bills.

There are also concerns the

meters can be hacked.

Victoria Arrington, of comparison

website energyhelpline, says: ‘You

do not have to get a smart meter

just because a company tells you

to do so. There are warehouses

piled high with inferior first-

generation smart meters that

suppliers are desperate to get rid

of. Stand up to these firms and

only accept a new generation

meter – known as SMETS 2 – and

only if you genuinely want one.’

There are now 14 million smart

meters in our homes but the

target to fit 26 million by the end

of 2020 is not expected to be met.

The body tasked with promoting

the roll-out – Smart Energy GB –

claims such devices could save

homes £100 a year by prompting

people to change their habits. This

is because the meters come with a

gadget that shows how much

energy is being consumed.