Wayne’s Story

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Wayne rented a home from a Housing Association. He was struggling to move back into his home due to debt accruing on his prepayment meters. Any top-up he made was taken by the debt meaning he couldn’t heat or power his home. He had access to his young children and needed to resolve these issues so his children could stay over. He was referred to the Big Idea Project and a visit was arranged with one of our energy advisors.

We spoke to Wayne by phone and conference-called his energy supplier to discuss the situation. We advocated on his behalf and explained the situation he was in, and his energy supplier agreed to set the debt to a £1 per week payback charge on the meters. They also applied a £20 goodwill gesture to each meter to give him a head start to move back into his home.

We provided advice to Wayne on how to conserve his top-ups by being as energy-efficient as possible. Including turning down his heating controls and using his other appliances.

We referred him to our handy service who visited the property once he moved back in to install measures to save energy and make his home warmer, including thermal curtains, LED energy-saving lightbulbs and radiator panels.

Thanks to our support he was able to put some heating on to start warming up the house after being empty for so long and he now had electricity, meaning that he would be able to move back in within the next couple of days.

Having the payback set at £1 will help him budget going forward along with the advice we provided to maximise the value of the top-ups he was making.

Wayne was grateful for the handy service and commented that the thermal curtains make the house cosier.  He admitted that he would have struggled without our support and was eternally grateful and said he felt good about the future for the first time in a long while.

 

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Cosy Kingdom provides free & impartial energy advice to anyone living within Fife. If you’d like to part and find out how you can save energy at home get in touch to arrange an appointment.

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