Mrs Scott lives with her husband and her son. Although Mrs Scott is in her 80s, she is caring for her son who struggles with his mental health and is often non-verbal, as well as her 91-year-old husband, who is bedridden. This leaves Mrs Scott to run the house on her own: she reached out to Age UK to see if there was any support available, and they referred her to Act on Energy to help with her energy bills.

Sarah, one of our Complex Case Workers, visited Mrs Scott and her family to discuss their energy bills. Mrs Scott said that she was paying £209/month for her gas and electric and, when Sarah looked at her bill, she noticed that Mrs Scott was over £1000 in credit. Sarah advised Mrs Scott that, although it is preferred to have a small reserve in credit to help support her if her energy bills went up, £1000 was over the recommended amount and she could have some of that refunded to her. Mrs Scott explained that she wasn’t sure how to do that, so Sarah contacted her supplier and got £876 refunded into Mrs Scott’s bank account.

Whilst looking at her account, Sarah noticed that Mrs Scott was on a variable rate, which meant that she was on the price cap tariff. Sarah explained this to Mrs Scott and talked her through how to do a comparison of tariffs from other suppliers. Mrs Scott switched to a new tariff that would save her an estimated £94 per year on her energy bills.

Now that Mrs Scott was able to reduce her unit cost, Sarah went on to discuss the importance of energy usage. Although energy efficiency is important, heating the home adequately is just as important. As Mr Scott was unable to get out of bed, his movement was very limited which meant that he was more susceptible to the cold, and could be affected by serious health complications, such as blood clots, if not kept warm. Mrs Scott also showed Sarah the damp that had started accumulating in the hallway, which Sarah recognised as being caused by condensation and explained that adequate heating, amongst other things like ventilation, would help reduce the damp.

Sarah recommended that they keep their property heated to at least 21°c, and asked whether the boiler was working efficiently. Mrs Scott explained that it hadn’t been serviced in over 4 years, so Sarah talked her through the option of boiler servicing plans and scheduled a free gas safety check to ensure that her family weren’t facing immediate danger from carbon monoxide or gas leaks.

Sarah also supplied Mrs Scott with a self-heated mattress topper, and an oil-filled radiator to keep with Mr Scott to ensure that, when he was feeling particularly cold, he could be made more comfortable without having to increase the temperature of the whole home which would cost more. Mrs Scott was relieved to know that her husband would be taken care of and that her own health would no longer be affected by the damp in her home.

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