Beware Credits from Scot. Power

dogshome

A friend has asked me to check thier Scot.Power bills for 2008 as they could not make Head nor Tail of them, and having seen the bills I can understand why.
For reasons not explained, Scot Power issued bills for the 3rd. & 4th Quarters which both went back to the Start Date & Start Meter Reading of the 2nd Qtr bill. In each case they had listed seperate credits for the Gas, Elect. and VAT that were correct to the values of the bills they were overlapping, and then having shown the correct total of the new bill, they then deducted the combined value of the credits to establish the final figure to be paid
However A Gas Credit is a credit for Gas - An Elect.Credit is a credit for Elect. - A VAT Credit is a credit for VAT, and once these seperate Credits are put in their proper places on the bill calculation and not deducted as lump a sum from the total of the new bill, a very different set of figures emerge.
For Example If we have a Gas Credit of £120, an Elect Credit of £60 and a VAT Credit of £9, Scot Powers simple arithmatic and the correct method work out as:
Scot Powers Sums xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxCorrect Method
Gas Bill £250.00 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxGasBill £250.00
Elect Bill £180.00 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLess gas Credit £120.00
Fuels total £430.00xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxGas Total...................£130.00
+ 5% VAT £ 21.50 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxElect Bill £180.00
Bill total £451.50xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLess Elect Credit £ 60.00
Less valuexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Elect.Total...................£120.00
of Credits £189.00 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxFuels cost £250.00
Bill to pay £262.50xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx+ 5% VAT £ 12.50
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLess VAT Credit £ 9.00
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxVAT Payable ...................£ 3.50
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxBill to pay £253.50
The overcharge of £9 is not a huge amount of money, but in the real world with my friends real bills, it amounts to over £36 and there is a VAT credit that has not yet been
fully accounted for because the credit was larger than the VAT chargeable on the last bill