Customers who owe money to energy suppliers are left vulnerable to aggressive debt collection companies if their supplier goes bust.
Since January 2018, 11 energy suppliers have collapsed, including Gen4U, One Select, Future Energy, Spark Energy, Brilliant Energy and National Gas and Power. This has left at least 32,000 customers in debt and at risk of being hounded for large sums of money at short notice with no consideration as to whether they can afford it.
When an energy supplier goes bust it is taken over by administrators. Administrators are not currently required to follow the same guidelines and rules as energy suppliers when dealing with customers who are in arrears.
Many vulnerable customers who were paying off their debts with affordable arrangements are finding themselves suddenly being chased by unscrupulous, heavy-handed debt collection companies, causing upset, stress and anxiety.
Citizens Advice call for the government to protect consumers
In response to the problem, Citizens Advice are campaigning for the government to protect consumers by ruling in the forthcoming Energy White Paper that administrators must follow the same rules as suppliers when tackling customers in arrears.
Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice said,“the Energy White Paper is the perfect opportunity for the government to close the gap in protections and limit the cost to consumers of any future supplier failures. It must act now.”
Here at Churchill Recovery we believe that debt collection should always be carried out professionally, fairly and ethically, giving the consumer the opportunity to negotiate a repayment plan that is affordable for them.
To find out more about our no win, no fee utilitydebt collection services, give our team of experts a call on 0333 320 0748.