More than £2,000 of debt cleared for two tEC clients
The new year has started well with two tEC clients having more than £2,000 of debt cleared from their energy suppliers between them.
Both clients contacted our Southampton Healthy Homes team looking for ways to take control of their energy bills and clear the money owed to their supplier.
Sol Bayes, Energy Adviser at the Environment Centre (tEC), worked with the Welfare Rights team at Southampton City Council to apply for help for the clients from the British Gas Energy Trust (BGET), an independent, charitable trust helping people across the country who are struggling to pay their energy bills, regardless of their supplier.
Our first client was living alone when his energy bills became unaffordable. Sol was able to advise the client of the energy bill discounts available to him and add him to the Priority Service Register, meaning he’d receive priority attention in an emergency. The application to the BGET resulted in clearing £1,274.83 of built-up debt.
The second client was struggling to make ends meet when their pregnant daughter moved back in with them and bills were already increasing. The application to the BGET was approved and the case was resolved with £886.09 of debt cleared from their account.
Both cases were successful thanks to the excellent teamwork and communication between the client and supporting organisations. Sol said: “I’m really pleased with the outcome of these two cases. Both clients were trying their best to manage their day-to-day finances but found themselves in difficult circumstances. I’d like to thank the Welfare Rights team at Southampton City Council for their support with the application to the British Gas Energy Trust as well as the clients for their patience and cooperation.”
If you’re a Southampton resident looking for help with managing your energy bills, please take a look at our Southampton Healthy Homes programme to see if we might be able to assist.
