Changed from prepaid to monthly now no bill!

gamma

Hi,

I live in Scotland and moved into a new flat with a prepaid electricity meter.

The meter was too expensive for us and inconvenient to top up. We thought of changing it to a monthly bill.

One day a man came and checked the meter to see if it was working correctly (think he was from Scottish Power) and we asked him if we can change over to a montly system.

I was out at this time and my housemate asked him. He said sure, did something to the pre paid meter and then stuck a sticker over where you put the tokens in. The meter is now permenantly on £1.

So problem is we have never received a bill or ANY correspondence from any electricity company.

Apparently he didnt even take any names or details, just my first name (which my housemate gave him) he just changed the meter?

I am worried that we owe 10000's of pounds and going to get into trouble later but so far nothing (Its been 4 months now)

Any thoughts??

chilli_dog

when we went from pre paid to monthly bill (electricity) we had a complete new meter fitted.

Do you own the flat or do you rent it?

maybe worth a call to the supplier

gamma

We rent the flat and he didn't change the meter - looks like he just jimmied it!

irnbru_2

gamma wrote:

I am worried that we owe 10000's of pounds and going to get into trouble later but so far nothing (Its been 4 months now)

Any thoughts??

Contact Scottish Power, your address and meter number should be sufficient for them to work out whats happened.

Did you take meter readings at the time?

gamma

I will see but sadly no meter readings was taken should I just make some up on averages?

Giddytimes

It sounds like Scottish Powers system hasn't picked up this meter change because the meter man did it on the spur of the moment instead of it being a planned appointment, he should have told you to ring and book an appointment.

It's normal for the token meter to be left there and just disconnected so that the meter works as a credit meter so don't worry about that but you do need to contact SP and tell them what has happened so they can dig out the appointment details and update your account, otherwise you will eventually be hit with a big bill when they realise.

Giddytimes

gamma wrote:

I will see but sadly no meter readings was taken should I just make some up on averages?

Your landlord/letting agent should have taken a reading just before you moved in so try contacting them. If it's been four months and you haven't contacted the electricity company at all to put your name on the account the likelihood is that they are going to want to see a copy of your tenancy agreement anyway. You won't need readings for the meter change as he hasn't actually changed the meter, just converted it from pp to credit.

I wouldn't risk making one up in case you mess up and give a start reading higher than the reading the meter man took on his visit. If your landlord does not have a reading then just ask SP to estimate for you, they have the reading from the visit which you say was not long after you moved in anyway.

gamma

thanks ill do that - how can they not know? hmmm wonder if we have free leccy for life!
wouldnt that be cool ehehhe

Ruth.B_3

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't get billed.
Have 2 direct debts coming from my bank account to Scottish Power one for gas & the other for electric.
Phoned them today cos my gas bill was so high (it had been over estimated by £300). First I was told that they were glad that I received my electric & gas from them, but when I got down to the nitty gritty I was told that I don't get my electricity from them. But you've been taking money from my account for the electricity. Sure enough, they had about £260 sitting in an electric account. The chap on the phone was adamant that they did not provide my electricity. He transferred the money to the Gas account to help reduce that.
To cut a long story short. Where am I getting my electricity from? I did switch provider for about a month but then I went back to my original provider, or I thought I did. I think each thinks the other is supplying my electric. In the mean time I'm worried about a 10 month electric bill.

No wonder gas & electric bills are so high, other people are paying for the ones who are not being invoiced, including me.

Bring back nationalisation (lol) at least you knew who you were dealing with.

P.S. I think I have electricity here or how can I use the computer, perhaps its gas!!!

Meanwhile I have to pay for the phone bills to sort it all out. Call centres with incoming calls only. :mad: Now there's a thought Martin