Author: Laura

I was contacted recently by a lady of very mature years (92) who was given my number by a friend who had also had support from our project. She was very upset when she called me and did not know where to turn or what to do about her energy issue.

She had been with a company that went out of business in November 2021 and had been paying regularly by direct debit. A payment was taken by them in December even though they were no longer supplying her with energy.

Her service was transferred to Scottish Power. She had called them on many occasions to set up a direct debit for her ongoing usage and they had called her at least 3 times asking for bank details which were provided. Due to some technical issue that they were unable to explain they seemed unable to set up the direct debit for my client and instead said she would have to pay quarterly and that she already owed £700.00.

This was quite upsetting for my client as she had tried numerous times to sort out the direct debit but without success, she was also unable to obtain meter readings herself due to an issue with the ramp to her property. The handrail for the ramp was blocking access to both the gas and electricity meters so the gas could not be turned off in the case of an emergency, this issue had only been noticed when the new supplier had asked for meter readings.

After discussion with a colleague two complaints were made on behalf of this client – the first to the local authority stating that the client was not safe due to being unable to access her meters to turn off the supply.

Several phone calls and emails resulted in the swift alteration of the ramp which has had to be moved to allow access. Unfortunately, the contractors subsequently flooded the clients’ garage with water after leaving a tap turned on, damaging some of her belongings and the charging pack for her mobility scooter – this issue has been referred to the local authority.

The second complaint was made to the Chief Executive’s office of Scottish Power for their failure to set up the direct debit for the client despite many contacts with her, they also failed to act on her vulnerability despite being told of her age and concerns.

With the intervention of the CEO’s office a direct debit was set up for my client, she was placed on the priority services register and will have her meters read regularly by Scottish Power. They have also given £100.00 in compensation and will review the account upon receipt of the credit balance from the previous supplier.

Except for the damaged personal effects (the issue of which is ongoing), the energy issues for this client have been satisfactorily resolved and the client was very grateful for our help. She now has a direct debit set up and can, if need be, access her meter boxes to turn off her gas supply in the event of an emergency.

We have spent a lot of March focusing on one of our target areas, Swinton. We popped over to one of the Crafty Ladies gatherings to find out what sort of questions they had around energy and the upcoming price rise. Although it was a small group, it was a very engaging group who had a lot of questions on how to be more efficient, how to be savvier with the current energy market and what services we offer.

We referred most of them (ones who were interested) for a Green Doctor home visit as they advised they had the older energy saving lightbulbs, they now understand that Energy Saving LED light bulbs use 90% less electricity than standard ones. We talked about heating habits and learned as a group that a lot of us have radiators on external doors and would benefit from having foils installed.

This group were eager to talk about energy efficiency and how old some of their appliances were. For example, using an electric hob instead of gas and making sure these appliances are efficient and not too old. As well as learning about water savings and what items they can get for free from Yorkshire Water to save them money on their water meters.

Client B had been a member at the Social Supermarket since last year. Although they were not ready to engage with any money support at the time they have kept in contact with the project. They recently had to submit their PIP review and were worried about doing this alone. They struggle to engage online and prefer doing things face to face. We signposted them to some drop-in sessions they could attend in person and even gave them a call on the day before they set off to the session to check they were okay. They gave us a couple of updates throughout the morning about how it was going and when we arrived at the Social Supermarket, we were told they had just dropped in on their way to post the form off and had the biggest smile you can imagine on their face. This been such a massive positive step forward for them.

There were a group of people waiting in the hall at the Unity Centre while I was there for the Job Club. I just started telling one of them why I was there and they all started listening in and asking questions. Neil decided to come along after his group and has started the process of signing up for the Pathways project to find employment. I spoke to him about green doctors and he has asked to book an appointment with them. We also spoke about other ways in which we can offer help. He doesn’t qualify for the fuel vouchers but he believes a family member does so we’ve helped them too. He has said that the others were daft not to come today but he is going to tell them about us and encourage them to join us at the next Job Club.

Rotherham West ward councillors and RMBC Neighbourhoods hosted the Ferham Community skip day on Thursday 24th February. This was supported by staff from RotherFed, Rema as well as other RMBC teams. The skip is the next step in tackling the fly tipping and litter in the area after the success of the bin amnesty event last year. In the run up to the event every resident received a leaflet containing the time, date and what items couldn’t be taken in the skip and on the day a shout out was put on the areas Facebook page reminding residents of the event.

The skips were funded by the local councillors through their ward budgets. Provisions were made that any resident that couldn’t remove the rubbish from their homes due to ill health could book an appointment for the caretakers to collect this from outside their homes and bring it down to the skip on their behalf. There was also a door knock on the day this ensured that everybody in the area could benefit from the day and remove any rubbish they had. 

During the 3-hour event, residents filled two walk in skips of household rubbish like old sofas, mattresses and general garden waste, and two loads of scrap metal was taken to be recycled. Resident came together with workers and helped each other to get larger items down to the skips and to fill the skips bringing the community together and making Ferham a nicer place to live. During the event approximately one hundred residents participated and disposed of their rubbish

This project has started with a big focus on uncovering little acts of kindness, people giving their time within communities to help others. This approach means that we are having conversations with people and uncovering those that are already proactive within their neighbourhoods, one of these people is one of the residents of Canklow.

New to the estate, in terms of how certain residents feel, Dayle moved to Canklow about 13 years ago. She cares for her disabled partner full time but wants to do more within the village to help people come together and make more of a sense of community.

She has been involved in the creation of the new community group Wooly Kuddles. The aim of this group is to bring people together to learn and share ideas of how to knit and crochet, as well as giving group members a space to go to, to get away from their regular routine and giving them an activity where they can achieve something tangible. Dayle has got loads of ideas for community activity, her biggest idea is for a weeklong project called “Love tha Neighbour”. This would be a project that would be encouraging the residents of Canklow to engage in little acts of kindness. We discussed various ideas of activity that could be done that week, one was having a World picnic where everyone brings and shares food that is important to them, this could be something cultural or just something that reminds them of their past.