Electricity Bill Increased 10 fold

worriedscot_2

I am currently in dispute with Scottish Power as I received a sky high bill. I had this independently checked by SP's own energy efficiency department. They went over my last 3 years bills. Basically my usage had gone up from an average of 10 units a day to 100 units a day. They said I would need to have a small factory to use this amount of electricity in a day.

SP put a check meter on to see that my meter was running OK. They had it on for a month and again it measured 10 units per day and was in line with the fixed meter.

SP are now insisting there is no problem because the check meter read the same as mine. I am refusing to pay the bill because clearly there was something wrong that the usage went up so much when no further electrical appliances were being used.

How can I sort out this problem? SP have sent the bill to be collected by debt collectors but why should I pay it when there own energy efficiency people are advising me that there was clearly a problem.

Cardew

For how long were you 'using' 100kWh per day, days? weeks? months?

The usual reason for a sky high bill like yours is some under-estimated meter readings and then a 'catch-up' bill.

Or, a previous, or current misread meter.

Assuming you don't use electrical heating, it is impossible to use 100kWh a day.

worriedscot_2

Hi

It was over a period of about 3 months. It wasn't a catch up bill, it was an actual reading.

SP's energy efficiency department also said it was impossible for me to use this especially as all I was using in a day was the usual electricity appliances, tv, fridge, kettle, house lights etc, and lights for the stables.

SP have said that because the check meter logged the same usage as my actual meter they stand by their bill as there is no way to verify what electricity I was using and I could just be saying that I wasn't using any further electrical appliances.

Cardew

worriedscot wrote: »

Hi

It was over a period of about 3 months. It wasn't a catch up bill, it was an actual reading.

I meant the previous meter readings were under-estimated or incorrectly read - not the final reading.

Were the previous readings by yourself or a meter reader?

Have SP given any suggestion of how this extra consumption happened?

I agree that you couldn't have used that extra 90kWh a day - over 3 months that is something like 8,000kWh, and £800 ish.

Presumably this has been going on some time as the matter is now with a DCA.

If you are sure that the problem is not down to estimated/misreading then your only course of action is to contact the Ombudsman.(Energywatch as was!)