SOL - Emergency Pre-Paid Meter Top Ups

Solihull Council, Income & Awards operate a Discretionary Crisis Scheme for residents that experience crisis events: an unforeseen emergency or exceptional financial hardship.

This scheme is designed to provide basic provisions to customers to facilitate breathing space.

That is, space for customers to seek advice to help resolve the issues that underlie their crisis needs.

A key function of this scheme is to supply customers with three days worth of gas and electricity to help meet their basic crisis needs.

This service is specifically for customers that have a pre-paid meter, only.

Customers that have a billed meter can resolve any difficulties directly with their energy supplier.

To supply beneficiaries of the discretionary grant scheme with an emergency pre-paid meter top up code or voucher to ensure they can credit their card or meter key for gas and electricity.

The requirements are as follows: o To process requests received from Income & Awards to issue a pre-paid meter top up to customers via a text message code by no later than 7pm on the same day. o To issue email and postal pre-paid meter vouchers to customer's that do not have the means to receive a code by text.

In reference to a postal voucher, this is to be received the next working day. o To provide telephony assistance to customer's that are having difficulties with vendors who are unable to use the code to credit their meter key or card. o There is a customer care service (help desk) to enable council staff to contact the provider between the hours of 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

This service should enable council staff to resolve any difficulties with issuing pre-paid meter top ups, discuss account transactions, confirm fulfilment times and arrangements for delivering a continuity of service to customers.