Clause 13
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill
6:15 pm
Lorely Burt (Shadow Minister (Small Business), Trade & Industry; Solihull, Liberal Democrat)
With these amendments, we seek to extend the powers where the council feels that there is a reasonable possibility of a threat of disconnection being made. They are probing amendments, in that we want to ascertain from the Minister what constitutesa threat, bearing in mind that the process of disconnection can be quite long. If one receives a letter saying that one may be disconnected if the bill is not paid following a missed payment, does that constitute a threat? A lot of utility companies use low-level threats early on in the process, which can lead to a great deal of emotional distress to the many vulnerable—dare I say it?—customers who often receive such threats. By vulnerable I mean elderly people and people whoare used to a straightforward relationship with the company to which they make their bill payments, who can receive a letter threatening to disconnect them if the matter is not resolved. The companies can start to issue threats at an early stage. I should like to know the stage at which the Minister feels that the reasonable probability of disconnection constitutes a threat to the individual.