Have you experienced unlawful discrimination?by supliers of gas or electricity
- keith corkill
- Nov 25, 2018
- 3 min read
Have you experienced unlawful discrimination?
The law which says you mustn’t be discriminated against is called the Equality Act 2010. Discrimination which is against the Equality Act is unlawful. This means you can take action in the civil courts.
Energy suppliers, like all service suppliers, have a duty not discriminate against you under the Act.
Are you protected against discrimination?
If you’re disabled you’re someone who’s protected under the Equality Act. So if you’re treated unfairly because of your disability, it could be unlawful discrimination.
Taking your disability into account
Under the Equality Act, energy suppliers must take your disability into account when dealing with you as a customer. This means they may have to change the way they do things so you’re not disadvantaged by your disability. Otherwise, it could be disability discrimination.
Energy suppliers must make reasonable adjustments if you're disadvantaged by something because of your disability. If they don’t do this it’s unlawful discrimination.
It may also be unlawful discrimination if an energy supplier treats you unfairly because of something connected to your disability - for example, if you can’t read small print or have difficulties communicating or understanding things.
This is called discrimination arising from a disability.
There are other types of unlawful disability discrimination, these are:
direct discrimination
indirect discrimination
harassment
victimisation.
If you owe money to your energy supplier they might want to install a prepayment meter. This means you would pay for your electricity or gas in advance rather than after you use it.
Your disability could make a prepayment meter unsuitable for you because:
your gas or electricity will stop if you don't put money on your meter - could this affect your health, for example if your heating is cut off?
you might have to travel to a shop or post office to put more money on your meter - could you get there regularly and easily?
you have to read your meter frequently to know how much money is left on it - would you be able to reach your meter and see its display clearly?
If your disability means a prepayment meter wouldn’t suit you, your energy supplier should agree a repayment plan with you instead. Otherwise you can complain that they’ve discriminated against you because they’ve failed to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act.
If you’re registered with the Priority Services Register
If you're disabled, you may be eligible for extra help offered by energy suppliers from the Priority Services Register.
If you're registered with the Priority Services Register but you're not receiving the services you should, you may be able to use the Equality Act to strenghten your complaint against the energy supplier. The Equality Act also means that the energy supplier may need to do more than what they offer under their services for vulnerable customers.
Check if you can sign up
You can register for priority services if your energy network considers you ‘vulnerable’. This can apply to lots of different situations - for example if you:
are disabled or seriously ill
are recovering from an injury
have mental health problems
don’t speak or read English well
have children under 5 or are pregnant
have reached your State Pension age
Your meter and supply
If you’re registered for priority services, you can ask your energy network to:
move your meter so it’s easier for you to access
send someone to read your meter every 3 months
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