Scotish Power

I_am_Sportacus

OK Folks maybe someone has been through this problem and can give me some assistance whee I live there has always been a prepayment meter in the property I've always been getting it topped up and decided to change over from Eon to Scotish Power

Obviously I have been topping up the meter as your supposed to when I have received a letter from Scotish Power saying I owe them £65 can anyone tell me how on a prepayment meter only after a three months you can owe that money you can only go so far down on emergency as it is and its not to do with there price rises thats been taken into account on the meter

They have been paid once and are now claiming the money a second time even though a dispute is in they say until the money is recovered I have to pay the money again theres nothing they can do about it until they find where it has gone to

I am a disabled person who finds it difficult enough as it is on the money I receive and to be told that I've got to pay another £5 a week plus what electricity I am using seems to be unfair to me.

I must state that the previous meter was faulty as well as I had to keep going out getting new cards to put into it phoning them everytime on this they kept saying your have to do this X amount of times before we will replace the present meter

If anyone else has been through this I would be grateful for any advice they could give

Thanks

Mark

monoxideuk

First of all i would make sure they have upto date meter reading for the supply, since prepayment are read on 6th monthly interval, and this can cause the problem, also it could be due to the meter being with eon orignally and when you switched to scottishpower the tariff info was not updated onto the meter which is where the debt occurs from, so your meter uses the credit as per eon (with a standing charge i beleive) but at the companys end its billed using there account tariff which would create the debt on the meter.

Also i would check they have the ending reading from when the faulty meter was exchanged, if not this couls also result in your problem,

hope this helps

I_am_Sportacus

Unfortunately I didn't get the end reading when the meter was replaced however with eon they did try to bill me from when it was changed over because of what they say as underpayment when price increases occured but they wrote this off as it was there fault I have a letter stating that as well.

That is what Scotish Power say but they state until they get the money off of them I have to pay it which I think is unfair it is not my debt after all there dispute is with Eon and not me so why should I pay twice

SwanJon

Just so I can get this right. My assumptions:
You were with E-on and had a meter that took paper tokens.
This was changed to a new meter (key) while you were with E-on.
You changed to SP (still with key meter)

Have you asked them where the balance has come from?
It could be the read they used when you swapped from E-on, or maybe your payments continued to go to E-on.

I don't often advocate going to Energywatch, but if the payments have been going to E-on, SP should ask them for the money not you.
Maybe give SP one mpore chance, and tell them you'll go to Energywatch.
As they can put the debt on the meter whether you want them to or not you have less leverage, so make a big fuss, and mention Energywatch, other suppliers, papers etc, then if they don't remove the balance follow up on your threats.

I_am_Sportacus

Thats right I was with eon and was a card meter that you took to a shop and topped up each time and put into the meter. I then transfered over to scotish power where the fault started to happen where I had to keep going out to get a new card must have been replaced over seven times before they then decided to change it to a key meter

it was after that that I received a letter stating that I owed the money have been arguing with them that how can I when you pay for what you use at the time and only have £5 emergency

I am considering that have contacted energy watch just now who have given me another number for Scotish Power that deals with people who have been to Energy Watch (That does make me wonder how many must be going there) for anyone interested after contacting energy watch and being given the id number for your complaint from them you phone 0800 0272700. So going to see where that goes tommorow also if I get no success going to go to the press and CAB been told you can get a lawyer through them

Monkey1984

Ask Scottish Power to raise a Mis-Directed Payments Claim against E.on. Takes about 6 weeks for a reply but will get the ball rolling.

BexTech

Remember though, with Pre-payment meters that doesn't mean you don't owe money every so often, hence the need for the meters to be read every 6 months and you get a statement usually every 12 months.

The meter may not be set at the correct rate. For example the meter maybe set a 8p/KwH, but your energy suppliers actual rate is 10p/KwH, thus although you are buying in advance (and paying a lot more than online Credit DD customers) you may not be actually covering the cost of the energy you are using.

At one time before the prices started to rapidly rise, many pre-payment customers where actually in credit every 12 months, hence a cheque in the post, now however most people are in debt, hence the asking for payment as you haven't paid enough through tokens etc to cover the actual cost.

That's not to say this is the only issue at the moment you have, there could be more to it.

I've always hated pre-payment meters and the number of people I've had to explain why they get a statement and might be asked to pay the difference is pretty high.

I_am_Sportacus

Well an update on this one Scotish Power have been provided with the proof of payments but there comment is until we get payment from Eon you owe us the money were not removing it from the meter.

How can companys get away with this when you don't owe the debt and they have the proof that whilst you are with them you have paid. Yes they state I'll get the money back but its not the point there taking another £5 a week in electricity I would agree to pay it if I owed it today I've been on to some other companys about changing over to them but think that might be difficult until this is resolved as they state in a letter until the debt (which I dont owe) is resolved I cant change been told it could be more weeks on this

I'm onto Energy Watch again on this as well they are in contact with them so may get a bit more information for you later

Sol00

Good luck. Hopefully Energywatch will have more leverage.

I_am_Sportacus

Well I'de say Scottish Power Couldn't organise a !!!! up in a brewery yes the debts been cleared off the meter then they take all the credit I had as well this just seems to get worse and worse thank god im changing suppliers away from them

SwanJon

I'm g;ad that they removed the debt (not the credit). When/if you switch, make sure you take a reading on the day you swap and give it to them. Or do it now and call in with a readng. They should then see how much extra you have paid over what you have used and give it back