Help Required Scottish Power

Sneakybeaky1

Hi all new to this site and the forums.

The story goes I moved into a new house September 2014. Brand new TaylorWimpey build. Exterior meters for gas and electric. We took meter readings and submitted them on getting the keys.
Since then we heard nothing from Scottish Power.
We have rang them on numerous occasions and they had no records of us but explained this is not uncommon in new houses and would be in touch in due course.
Today 28 months later we have received a Welcome Letter and a combined bill for £2500.
Stupidly we haven't saved the money towards the bills as we should have done and I am unable to pay the £2500.
I need help and advice on what I should do at this point?

I hope you can help.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

How did you know Scottish Power were your supplier?

Presumably being a Taylor Wimpey build it is an estate?? Have you enquired on some of your neighbour's situation regarding debts?

How did you submit your initial meter readings? By mail/email or telephone? Did you give any other details like meter number?

Have you written to Scottish Power or just telephoned?

Sometimes with estates the builder/developer receives the bills and sorts it out later with the company, and the energy company then bill the occupant.

You may be aware that there is a voluntary back-billing code that means that the energy company can only back-bill for the last 12 months where the company are at fault. I suspect that the company will dispute that they are at fault, and presumably you are not disputing you have used the gas/electricity.

The good news is that you can get the company to allow you to pay back your £2,500 debt over the time it took for the debt to build up(30 months). This means you will pay back a sum of approx £83 a month on top of the cost of your actual consumption.

I suspect that you will be on Scottish Power's most expensive Standard tariff. It would be an idea to see if Scottish Power have a cheaper tariff. You will not be allowed to switch to another supplier with a large debt outstanding.

Sneakybeaky1

Thanks for your reply plenty for me to think about there your response is much appreciated!!

dogshome

As usual, Cardew has posted a full and well informed reply.

With a debt of this size it's well worth making a claim that the Back-Billing Agreement should apply, which then puts SP in the position of haveing to show why it should not.
( SP have suffered huge software problems and this late billing could be entirely down to them and not 3rd parties )

Things will help your cause are:
Was the bill addressed to you by name and not just the 'Occupier'?
Does the Start Date on the bill match that of the day you first phoned SP to report your occupancy?
Does the Start meter reading on the bill match the one you gave to them ?

footyguy

Sneakybeaky1 wrote: »

Hi all new to this site and the forums.

The story goes I moved into a new house September 2014. Brand new TaylorWimpey build. Exterior meters for gas and electric. We took meter readings and submitted them on getting the keys.
Since then we heard nothing from Scottish Power.
We have rang them on numerous occasions and they had no records of us but explained this is not uncommon in new houses and would be in touch in due course.
Today 28 months later we have received a Welcome Letter and a combined bill for £2500.
Stupidly we haven't saved the money towards the bills as we should have done and I am unable to pay the £2500.
I need help and advice on what I should do at this point?

I hope you can help.

Try asking here for advice on paying back the debt you owe :
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76