My Gas has been cut off

I am wondering if Bord Gais can expect me to pay an extra €550 to get my Gas turned back on? We had a gas bill of approx €1160 to pay and admitedly have been putting it off until other bills had been cleared. We got a letter about three weeks ago advising that the gas was going to be turned off so I contacted their credit control dept to make some sort of agreement. I told them I had made a pymnt of €170 that day and that I would be making pymnts of €100 per week until it was cleared. They would not discuss the account with me because I am not the account holder (my husband is) so told me to get him to contact them to get my name on the account to they can discuss with me. Unfortunately he forgot to do this and my meter has been turned off since last week. My husband contacted them and they said they wanted the balance of €960 upfront plus Approx €150 re-connection fee PLUS another €400 security. That's about €1500 in total!!! Can they demand this before my meter is turned back on?

yes they can do it, and even if you do pay the full amount it can take nearly 2 weeks for them to turn it back on. i owe them around the same amount but when you get that final letter you really should be sorting it out with their credit department. they are usually ok with a minium payment agreement. i dont think you have a way of getting out of paying to get it back on. But maybe enquire about a prepay meter system for the future. I dont know how anybody is supposed to pay for heating bills in this country the price is ridiculous, it was costing us nearly 80e a week for gas during the cold months, here's hoping for a long hot summer. Good Luck.

Agree with Susie , your best option is to get them to install a GasCard meter , you can load your GasCard at PayZone terminals in shops. They will set it up so that every time you load your card you will be paying a percentage to clear your arrears , so for example if you top-up by €30 you will probably only get €20 gas and €10 comes off your arrears. Good luck.......