Perth woman didn't dare heat home due to energy firm pressure to pay

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A young woman kept her heating off until late December because OVO came after her saying she had failed to pay her account - an error the Perth-based company later admitted.The electricity supplier is in the process of taking over power accounts from SSE.

It lost records of her payment and sent final demands and court letters to her home until the PA intervened.Alysson Ross (21) has a flat in Perth but despite working full time, felt the pressure of paying her bills.

She works from home as a financial administrator and moved her desk into her bedroom so she didn’t heat the whole space in the day.Living in her first place of her own, she had no one to turn to when in the midst of the cost of living crisis, it seemed she was getting into trouble over unpaid bills - despite her best efforts to sort out the situation.The worry put her off heating her flat until just before Christmas.

Instead she tried to keep warm at her desk with a hot water bottle on her lap rather than turn up the thermostat.She came to the PA after getting worrying communications about her bill - despite paying £200 in November and attempting to set up a payment scheme.Her issues with SSE began before her account migrated to OVO over Christmas and she became alarmed at how the new company was pursuing her for money.“The cherry on the cake came when I had a call at my door after dark recently, with a man trying to hand me a final demand,” explained Alysson.“The letter threatened that if a court decision were to go against me, the next step would be a prepayment meter being installed.”Alysson told the PA she made a payment in November 2022 of £200 up front and made an agreement to pay £46 monthly.