Beyond that, less is published than you would expect. What a supplier may and may not do about a bankrupt household customer is not set out anywhere we could find.

This page says what is fixed and is honest about the rest. How a MAP works covers the process itself.

Yes. They are ordinary unsecured debts, so they count towards the £25,000 limit and they are cleared by the discharge in section 145(1).

They are not on the list of survivors

Section 145(3) lists what discharge does not touch, and energy arrears appear nowhere in it. Neither do water and sewerage charges billed with your council tax.

Section 145(3) lists what survives. Fines and other court penalties, debts obtained by fraud, and aliment or a periodical allowance payable on divorce are not written off.

They count towards the debt limit as well

Your total debts must be no more than £25,000, under section 2(2)(b) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016.

So arrears count both ways, towards the ceiling and towards what is written off. Which debts count towards the MAP debt limit sets out the one exclusion the Act does make.

The supplier does not have to agree

Discharge operates by law rather than by consent. A creditor cannot opt out of it and neither can a supplier.

What a supplier can still do is decide how it wants to be paid for what you use next. That is a different question from the debt.

When they actually go

Six months after the award, automatically, under section 140(1). There is nothing to apply for and nothing for the supplier to agree to.

Whether a MAP writes off all your debts goes through the exceptions.

Both mygov.scot and AiB say a supplier may change how you pay. Neither says a supplier may refuse to supply you, and nothing published establishes that either way.

What the two official sources actually say

mygov.scot has two sentences on it: gas and electricity providers may change your payment method, and for example may put you on a prepayment meter.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy says some suppliers may have concerns about how they provide services and may wish to change how they receive payments, including installing a meter.

Read what those sentences do not say

Both are about payment method rather than about supply. Neither mentions refusing to supply you, and neither mentions a deposit.

We could not establish the position either way. That is a gap in what is published rather than a finding that suppliers may do as they please.

What is settled and what is not

The provision people cite about utility supplies applies to a request made for the purposes of a business, so it does not help a household customer.

Why the citation you will see elsewhere is wrong

Section 222 is headed “Supplies by utilities” and gets cited on debt pages as though it protected a household. Read subsection (3) before relying on it.

It engages only where the request for supply is made by or with the concurrence of the trustee and for the purposes of a business carried on by the debtor. Both limbs have to be satisfied.

What the section is actually for

It stops a utility making continued supply to a business conditional on paying pre-insolvency arrears. It confers nothing on an ordinary household customer.

The office holder it refers to is the interim trustee, the trustee in the sequestration or a trustee under a trust deed. Section 222 is not a domestic consumer protection.

Where the utilities list does help you

Utility charges and council tax are left out of that £1,000 calculation.

Section 219(1) uses the list of supplies in section 222(4) to keep energy, water and communications charges, and council tax, out of the £1,000 calculation in the credit disclosure rule.

That is a real benefit for a household on a low income, and whether you can get credit during a MAP explains where it bites.

They are driven by debt rather than by bankruptcy. Ofgem’s rules on installing involuntary prepayment meters came into force on 8 November 2023 and do not mention bankruptcy anywhere.

The conditions before a meter is installed without agreement

What that means for a MAP debtor

Nothing in the Ofgem rules treats a sequestration as a trigger. They are about arrears and about the circumstances of the household.

So if a meter is raised with you, ask which of those steps has been taken. Ask for the answer in writing.

What we are not saying

We could not obtain the operative text of the energy supply licence conditions, so this page asserts nothing about what they require of a supplier.

That is a limit on what could be read rather than a conclusion. Treat any page that states a confident rule here with caution.

And ask about the arrears rate

A meter set to recover old arrears is collecting a debt that a MAP discharges at six months. Raise that with the supplier and with your money adviser.

A prepayment meter is a change in how you pay rather than a loss of supply, and the Ofgem rules provide for a re-assessment and an offer to remove it once the debt is cleared.

All of them, from the date of the award onwards. Discharge deals with what you owed at the date of sequestration and nothing else.

This is where MAP cases come unstuck

Old arrears disappear at the six month mark while a fresh set quietly builds. The same applies to rent and to council tax for the current year.

Which bills are priority debts in Scotland explains why energy sits at the top of that list.

The two halves of your account

A credit balance is an asset

Your assets must be worth no more than £2,000 in total under section 2(2)(c), and no single item may be worth more than £1,000 under section 2(2)(d).

Money sitting on your energy account is money owed to you, so tell your adviser about it. What happens to your savings in a MAP covers how balances are treated.

Nothing in the Act freezes an account, but both official sources say a bank may freeze or close one. A failed direct debit creates fresh arrears immediately.

The practical risk

mygov.scot advises keeping money for essential living costs accessible when you apply, and the Accountant in Bankruptcy says a bank may still allow wages or benefits to be paid in.

Neither says how often an account is closed. Whether your bank account is frozen in a MAP sets out the statutory position in full.

Keep paying while the account works

Nothing about a Minimal Asset Process suspends your ongoing energy bill. Missing payments because the bankruptcy is running is the fastest way to build new arrears.

If you cannot afford the ongoing usage, that is a budgeting conversation to have with your adviser rather than something to leave until a letter arrives.

What to check, and when

Check that your energy direct debit will still run before the next payment date. A payment that fails in month one is the commonest avoidable problem.

If you have to open a new account, tell the supplier the new details in writing. Do not assume the change carries across.

Fix the line between old and new. A written balance and a meter reading on the day you sign will do most of the work.

The checklist

Help with energy costs is separate from the bankruptcy

Support with energy bills does not stop because you are bankrupt. What help is available with energy bills in Scotland sets out the schemes and who runs them.

mygov.scot covers what to do if you cannot afford your bills, and Home Energy Scotland gives free advice on reducing what you use.

Tell your adviser about anything that changes

A change in how you pay for energy changes your budget, which is one of the things AiB expects to hear about. What happens if your income improves during a MAP covers the reporting duty.

And check the entry conditions before any of this. Whether you are eligible for a MAP runs through all eight.