F
or many years I had power of attorney for my aunt’s finances and welfare. She suffered from mental and physical problems and, as I live a three-hour drive away, I arranged for carers to visit her daily.
For the past two years I’ve had problems with her energy supplier, Eon, which started when I noticed that her bills were based on estimated readings.
Her house has a smart meter so her readings should have been sent automatically to Eon. My aunt was vulnerable and unable to read the meter, so during one visit I checked the meter and found the screen was blank. Since then I have repeatedly asked Eon to replace the faulty meter. It said it couldn’t book an appointment three weeks in advance so that I could be there, which was a problem given that I don’t live nearby and have to schedule my work diary months ahead.
Despite these problems, I made sure to continue paying my aunt’s direct debits. When she went into hospital last year, her house was left empty and has been ever since. She died in January.
