Your electric and gas arrears can be included in an IVA. However, if your account is in joint names with someone else, that person may still have to pay the bill unless you start a joint agreement.

Included in this article:

• Can you included electric and gas arrears in an IVA?
• What if your bills are in joint names?
• How do you pay future bills?

Want to start an IVA? We can help. Give us a call (0800 077 6180) or complete the form below. The advice is free and confidential

Can you included electric and gas arrears in an IVA?

Any electric and gas arrears that you owe can be included in an IVA. This is because they are unsecured. They are treated in the same way as money you owe to a credit card or loan.

You can include arrears you have from a previous property or previous supplier. You can also add money that you owe to your current supplier as well.

One of the problems you may be worrying about is whether including arrears with your current supplier will mean you will get an electric or gas payment meter. The good news is that this is unlikely.

Once your IVA is in place, your supplier will reset your account to zero. As long as you pay all future bills in full and on time, everything should continue as normal. You might only risk getting a meter if you fall into arrears again.

Struggling to get your head round all of this? We can help. Call us (0800 077 6180) or complete the form below. The advice is free and confidential.

What if your electric and gas bills are in joint names?

You can include electric and gas debts in your IVA which are in joint names with someone else. But the issue you’ll face is that the other account holder is still liable for 100% of the outstanding balance (not just their half). Your IVA only protects you.

There are two ways around this problem.

First, rather than including the bill, you are allowed to set up a separate payment plan direct with the supplier to pay it off. Of course, this will only work if you have sufficient surplus income to agree both this repayment plan and maintain a realistic monthly IVA payment.

If you will struggle to pay off both your electric and gas arrears and pay your IVA, the alternative option is for you both to do a joint IVA. In this case the joint debt is included meaning you are both protected.

You will normally only be able to do a joint IVA, if the other account holder has some additional debt in their name which they include in the Arrangement.

How do you pay future bills?

Once your IVA is up and running, it’s is important you don’t get into more electric and gas arrears. If you do, it could lead to your supplier forcing you to accept the installation of payment meters.

The fact you are in an IVA should help avoid this problem. This is because you will include a sufficient amount in your IVA living expenses budget to cover your future bill payments.

When agreeing your living expenses budget, remember that electric and gas bills have gone up a lot in the past 12 months. Make sure you include a sufficient average monthly amount in your budget. This will allow you to cover both your summer and winter bills in full when they are due.

If you are starting your IVA in the summer, remember that your gas and electric bills are likely to be much higher in the winter. If you are not sure, it is best to total up all your bills for last year. Calculate the average monthly bill and include this in your expenses. Your IVA company should help you do this correctly.

If you want to start an IVA, we can help. Give us a call (0800 077 6180) or complete the form below. The advice is free and confidential