“There’s a man with a warrant at the door”
When Scottish Power attempted to fit a Prepayment Meter — Case Study
This was written in October 2022 with the kind permission of my client for a BBC investigative program which unfortunately did not go ahead. Given The Times exposé in the news today, it would be a shame not to share this.
25/10/2022: Panicked email in from TL (not her real initials)
“I’ve got Scottish power pounding in the door saying they have a warrant to hang a meter what can I do please I need advise xx”
Phone call to TL. She tells me a bailiff is sitting outside her house in a car, with a Siemens van next to it. They have knocked on the door several times but she is too scared to answer so is sitting upstairs in the bedroom with the curtains closed.
They told her they have a warrant to come in to fit a prepayment meter and pushed something through the letterbox — she’s going to email a photo of it to me.
TL already has gas on prepayment and is really stuggling now. There is a debt on the electricity which we are including in a Debt Relief Order which should be completed within a week or so.
After discussion, I advise TL the only possible way to attempt to stop the warrant now is to apply for Breathing Space — this should hopefully stop enforcement happening today. TL agrees.
I complete the application online while TL stays on the phone, keeping a watch on the two gentleman outside. They are still sitting in their vehicles at the moment.
It doesn’t take long and I submit the application. TL receives an email notification from the Insolvency Service within moments of me submitting it. The only debt included for now is the one owed to Scottish Power.
I advise TL to go outside, lock the door behind her and show the email notification to the bailiff, and keep me on speakerphone so I can verify the information if necessary.
TL does this but unfortunately the situation very quickly escalates — I can hear TL becoming very agitated — suggesting the bailiff has pushed her, he is telling her to step away from his car, she is telling him not to grab her phone etc. She becomes very distressed, crying, and then tells the bailiff she has an IVA — she is panicking and getting mixed up, she doesn’t have an IVA but it makes no difference to her, she has a legal remedy and this shouldn’t be happening. The bailiff says it makes no difference to him whether she has an IVA or not. This is not going to plan.
I am yelling TL’s name down the phone to get her attention. Eventually, she comes back on the phone and holds it up so the bailiff can hear me. I try explaining, it’s not an IVA, it’s Breathing Space and it really does stop the enforcement. The ‘bailiff’ says he’s not a bailiff but is in fact a Warrant Officer of the court. Nothing I have applied for ‘makes any difference’ to him due to his powers being ‘issued from the magistrates’ court.’
I advise again that Breathing Space does stop enforcement and I’m sorry he isn’t informed about this but he really should contact Scottish Power right away and check this before he does anything else, as there could be legal consequences. I explain that we will be including the electricity debt on a Debt Relief Order, so the debt balance will actually be written off. Again, the Warrant Officer has clearly never heard of this and doesn’t believe a word I’m saying.
He starts telling me he is just a nice guy, doing his job, and doesn’t want any trouble, but my client is very aggressive and there’s no need for that behaviour. I say, she’s terrified of you —it’s just a job to you but to her it’s the threat of being broken into — of putting herself and her family at risk if a prepayment meter is fitted for electricity. There is a disabled child in the property, a baby in the property, people with long-term mental health conditions. This is a big deal to them.
I’m trying so very hard to sound professional and persuasive, as though I might know what I’m talking about. I’m quoting regulations that probably (definitely) aren’t correct but all he needs to do is say that he will check first and hopefully all will be OK. Finally, he accepts that there may be something to what I am saying and goes back to his car to ring Scottish Power.
TL returns inside, still shaken, and sobbing. She retreats back to watching him from the bedroom window. After just a few moments he comes back and knocks at the front door. I advise TL to go back out and calmly speak to him. TL asking if I’m sure this will be OK. I’m certainly hoping so.
He has someone from Scottish Power’s legal department on the phone — also on speakerphone — and they have put him on hold while they check things with their legal team. I can hear the hold music playing. It’s bizarre. They then come back on the phone — he explains that he is with ‘the customer’ and ‘this debt adviser’ person on speakerphone now. I am struggling to hear but it sounds like Scottish Power confirm that the account is now indeed on a 60-day hold and the warrant is not to be enforced. Result.
The Warrant Officer is a bit annoyed about this; no-one had told him this, this morning when he checked his jobs for the day. That’s why he’s here now — he wouldn’t have come if he’d known — someone should have told him etc. He starts telling the client that the ‘best thing she can do’ is to set up a payment plan or he might have to come back. I realise now that the enforcement is off that I am shaking too. I don’t have the energy to tell him that his advice is neither correct nor welcome — it appears that he has resigned himself to leaving and both TL and I just want this to happen quickly.
He leaves.
TL comes back inside and can’t speak for tears. I waffle for a bit about how he won’t be coming back and everything is going to be sorted out very soon, and she starts to calm down a bit.
When I finally hang up, I feel traumatised. I can only imagine how TL feels. That was a close one.
Just over 2 weeks later, TL’s Debt Relief Order is approved with the Scottish Power debt included. TL is now protected legally from any further action for 12 months and at the end of 12 months her liability is written off.
I am - like so many others who have been campaigning for this - very pleased to hear that the big energy companies are finally being told to stop this nasty and abusive process. They’ve been publicly shamed into doing so (no thanks to the chocolate teapot regulator). It must not stop there though. Those already on prepayment meters should be offered the choice to switch back, as should those on ‘smart’ meters switched to prepayment meter mode. Just because there’s no warrant and no breaking into people’s houses with prepayment meters, doesn’t make it any less terrifying when there is no money left to top-up.
And, have no doubt about it investigative journalists, people with disabilities who need power for their potentially life-saving equipment - and other people in vulnerable situations — will be running out of credit and self-disconnecting right now.
