help needed urgently. scottish power now claiming a 3rd reading on our meter

hairyfil

Hi all,
I hope someone can shed some light on my problem.

We moved into a rented cottage for 18 months (April 07 to Oct 08) before moving to New Zealand.
At the end of Oct 2008 we closed our account paying £94.00, which surprised us as we thought we had been over paying.

We were on their Premier Plus package with day and night tariffs.

Now we've received a backlog of letters from them claiming that they have realised they had made a mistake and that in fact we had not been paying a third rate which is now been added into a new estimate bill - this rate is called Control.

They now claim we owe them £400+.

Since we're having our mail forwarded from the UK to a PO box here, coupled with really long delivery times over Christmas, and having been on vacation all of last week. I get 2 letters today, the first is a final demand, the second is threatening court action. That one was dated 2 weeks ago so I've probably already been to court!?!?

I have no idea what this 3rd reading is.Whenever I took the meter readings myself I only saw 2 readings. I can't tell you what type of meter it is, but it was digital, and you had to press a button to cycle through the different readings.

Also, it seems odd to me that when I add the Day & Night readings, the result is very close (just approximately 400 units) to that of the Control reading. Seems to me that the Control reading is just that, a control to ensure that he total of the 2 readings tally with the overall number of units used.

How they've estimated this Control reading when there's no record of a physical reading is also beyond my comprehension.

Any info/advice?

thanks
Phil

spiro

Phil, do you have an old bill? If so if you PM me (or post here) the 13 digit MPAN (bottom line of S number) I can check on the nation register to see what the metering configuration is, assuming its not change. This will indiacte if it is 1, 2 or 3 rate.

filmnoir

LCD meters commonly have a total kWh. Its an emalgamation of the day and night read. Insist that the meter is only two rate.

hairyfil

on the phone to Scottish Power, they are claiming that there were 2 supplies with 2 meters in the property.
1st - day & night tariff
2nd - off peak (wasn't that night tariff?) which was for the night storage heaters.
I never saw a 2nd meter. So I;'ll be asking them for photo proof of that 2nd meter's location.

grumf.

Phil

glasgow_DFW

Hello,

thew cottage that you were in would have been in MPAN 13 or 18 you were on a comfort plus contro tariff. This means that your have your day rate your cheaper night rate and then for all your heating and hot water you have the contral rate (cheaper than the night rate)

fould this online:
ComfortPlus Control is a modern electricity tariff provided by ScottishPower for properties with electric storage heating.
The storage heaters and other fixed heating appliances including panel heaters and fan heaters (in the bathroom and/or kitchen), plus the hot water immersion are all wired into a ‘controlled circuit’. They all run on electricity supplied at a cheap rate of 3.4p per unit at all times of day. Electric bar fires and electric showers can also be wired into this controlled circuit, so they are much cheaper to run than if they were plugged into a socket as normal.
All other appliances and lights are wired up to the normal domestic circuit and use electricity charged at 8.1p per unit at all times. You also pay a daily service charge of 29.2p per day (£2.04 per week).
With the ComfortPlus Control tariff the storage heaters are controlled by ScottishPower’s WEATHERCALL® system. The system automatically provides the right amount of charge to the storage heaters so that enough heat is stored overnight depending on the weather forecast for the following day.
All you do is set the INPUT controls to maximum and WEATHERCALL® will give the heaters a larger electric charge (up to 8 hours a day) when it is forecast to be cold and a smaller charge in milder weather.
The above prices and those listed over the page include VAT and are based on ScottishPower prices in May 2005.

Filmnoir, giving incorrect informtion is of no help. What you should do is complain (via email) advising that you wish for this to be looked into as it was not your error and that your would want a reductiuon of the bill. It will not be much but if the energy has been used you will have to pay for it.