SNP MP John Nicolson was forced to step in after an elderly Perthshire resident with Parkinson’s disease was left with “a couple of pounds” worth of energy in sub-zero temperatures.
The pensioner, in his late 70s, contacted the Ochil and South Perthshire politician on Thursday after energy provider Ovo failed to fix his faulty meter.
The pay-as-you-go device, which was running low on supply, was not accepting top ups – leaving the constituent “terrified” he would be left without heating as snow swept the region.
It was only after Mr Nicolson tweeted about the issue the company took actions to resolve it.
Mr Nicolson says that Ovo told his constituent, who does not wish to be identified, they would not send an engineer out to help because they could see he still had some money in his meter.
He said: “But he was trying to top it up and it wasn’t registering any additional points that he put in.
“He was terrified that it was going to run out and just leave him in the freezing cold.
“So we pointed this out to Ovo and we literally spent hours and hours on the phone to try and get their attention.”
After being ignored, Mr Nicolson wrote on Twitter: “Hi Ovo Energy I have an emergency which needs urgent attention.
“I have an elderly constituent with Parkinson’s. You’ve cut off his supply. I’ve written to you but you’ve not replied. Can you contact me immediately please.”
Spoke too soon. @OVOEnergy said they’d resolved this but my constituent’s meter is broken again. Unbelievably their “customer service” have phoned & asked him to send photos (he has Parkinson’s tremors). When he couldn’t @OVOEnergy they said he was “wasting our time” & hung up. pic.twitter.com/zz2nRah2md
— JOHN NICOLSON M.P. (@MrJohnNicolson) December 16, 2022
The company sent out an engineer and the issue was seemingly resolved – but it became clear the following day that the meter was still broken.
The constituent was forced to spend the day at a nearby “warm space” in order to reserve his energy supply at home.
Customer services told pensioner ‘you’re wasting my time’
Mr Nicolson said: “My office manager managed to get through to Ovo on the phone, explained the situation, and then a woman from customer services called my constituent and asked him to send her photos of the meter.
“But he was unable to because of the Parkinson’s tremors, so she then shouted at him, ‘you’re just wasting my time’ and slammed the phone down.
“It’s just appalling, and we had already spoken to her and explained that he had Parkinson’s before she made the call to him.
“I again took to twitter, and finally [on Saturday] I got the head of customer relations on Twitter, asking us to ‘reach out'”.
We’ve been “reaching out” for days @OVOEnergy spending hours on the phone to you. One of yr customer service reps told my constituent he was wasting her time as he couldn’t take photos of his meter – he has Parkinson’s. After much online pressure an engineer is visiting today. https://t.co/980EaWhCoA
— JOHN NICOLSON M.P. (@MrJohnNicolson) December 17, 2022
An engineer was sent out once more and the meter fixed.
But Mr Nicolson is concerned that his help was required and fears the constituent is one of many in a similar situation.
He said: “If we hadn’t intervened he would have run out and he could have run out during the night.
“I just think the idea that energy companies are allowing this to happen is appalling.”
Ovo Energy launch investigation
An Ovo spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry for the shortfalls in service he’s experienced.
“We take this very seriously and have started an internal investigation into how this was handled.
“Our team will continue to be in touch to support him following his recent meter exchange.”
