I entered an IVA in early December, at the time I didn't think I had any arrears with British Gas for gas and electricity, but shortly afterwards I realised that my previous 2 bills had been based on very low estimated reads and I in fact owe them roughly £450 after actual readings were submitted. At the time I phoned them to ask if it would be possible to pay in installments, but was told no, - they would only accept an immediate payment for the full amount.
Today I recieved notice that they will shortly be applying to a JP for a warrant to enter my house and install prepayment meters (I would like to avoid this, -mainly because of the inconvenience of using pre-payment, but also I'd like to avoid having the street filled with police, locksmiths, engineers etc. while they do the work!)
I again phoned customer services this morning, and was again told that under no circumstances would they be prepared to accept installments. In frustration I phoned their complaints line and spoke to a very understanding lady, who initially said that installments shouldn't be a problem, however as soon as I mentioned my IVA she said that she wasn't able to dicuss the matter any further and that I could only be dealt with by someone from their specialist insolvency department - she has passed my details to them and they will apparently call me back in the next 48 hours.
Can anyone tell me what to expect when they phone back? Do they deal with insolvent customers in an entirely different way? Does my insolvency mean that they are likely to push harder to move me onto prepayment to negate percieved risk from an insolvent customer?
There are a couple of options and you should contact your IP as soon as possible. First of all you could switch suppliers and British Gas would then become a debt in your IVA. This may not be possible if there is an outstanding debt to your existing supplier but is certainly worth investigating.
Second of all the debt could be included in your IVA and British Gas should not try and improve their own position knowing that you are in an IVA. They could not reclaim the arrears but may be entitled to install a prepay meter to avaiod any future bad debts.
As I say contact your IP who should be able to liaise with British Gas and resolve the problem.
