Scottish Power Student Bill

perfect10

Can anyone advise - a group of students have just received a bill from their previous property, it is for £1300 plus in addition there is a debt collection amount for £400.

They were under the impression that the bill had been paid as received a bill approx May time for £400 which they paid.

Scottish Power are now saying they owe an extra £1300 on top which they were completely unaware of, as the students no longer live there they have not received any post so were unaware of this bill. A couple are willing to pay their share if when they work it out it is correct however can anyone advise if there is anything that can be done about the debt collection amount as this seems unreasonable? No debt collectors have ever been in touch and it is only that one of the ex students happened to be given her post recently that this came to light.

Also who is liable for the bill - is it the person named on the bill or all who lived there?

savemoney

Who is liable on the bill will be the person named on it

Bill payers have a duty to keep utility companies informed of there usage so that bills can be sent out accordingly based on there usage, if it is not done then some debt may be accrued if they are not paying enough which can as I suspect be the case here and got a huge bill

Cardew

You are all jointly and severally liable for the bill(assuming it is valid). In practice this means the Debt Collection Agency(DCA) will come after whoever they can get their claws into for the money.!!

The probability is that the bill you paid in May was based on under-estimated meter readings.

Also if you didn't note the meter readings and inform Scottish Power of those readings(in writing) when you move, you might be being billed for gas/electricity consumed after you left.

You should have left a forwarding address with Scottish Power. If you can deal with them it will be better - but I doubt if they will play ball.

How could the debt collectors have contacted you? The £400 added is just the DCA trying it on!!

You will get better advice on how to deal with the dreaded DCA in the Debt-Free Wannabe section of MSE.

However don't ignore the problem as it will end up having an effect on your credit record.

perfect10

Thanks - they do agree that they did not inform Scottish Power of correct usage, they are students and this is first experience of bills!!! When you say the DCA trying it on does this mean something can be done about this extra £400? I will have a look at Debt free Wannabe section - thanks

Scottish_Power

Hi perfect10

The best advise I can give is for the students to collect as much information as they can in relation to the gas/electricity consumed during the relevant period, i.e. confirm the start and end meter readings with the relevant dates that they occupied the property. Hopefully these have been recorded by either the students or more likely the landlord. Also, I presume all students were named on the tenancy agreement. If so, our account can be updated with all relevant parties.

We will be able to send a copy of the final statement showing the meter readings that have been used (if a copy has not already been received). These meter readings can be checked against any accurate meter readings we received while the property was occupied by the students.

I would suggest that one of the students contact ScottishPower and confirm that there has been confusion in relation to the final bill. If a payment arrangement can be agreed then it is possible the additional fees can be removed.

If you want me to have a look into this for you then send me an email (email address is shown in our profile page).

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Premier_2

perfect10 wrote: »

Can anyone advise - a group of students have just received a bill from their previous property, it is for £1300 plus in addition there is a debt collection amount for £400.

They were under the impression that the bill had been paid as received a bill approx May time for £400 which they paid.

Scottish Power are now saying they owe an extra £1300 on top which they were completely unaware of, as the students no longer live there they have not received any post so were unaware of this bill. A couple are willing to pay their share if when they work it out it is correct however can anyone advise if there is anything that can be done about the debt collection amount as this seems unreasonable? No debt collectors have ever been in touch and it is only that one of the ex students happened to be given her post recently that this came to light.

Also who is liable for the bill - is it the person named on the bill or all who lived there?

Did said students take meter reading when fisst taking over property and supply such meter reading to the energy supplier?
Did students then take meter reading when they left the property and supply this to the energy supplier together wiuth a forwarding address to allow the supplier to send final bill to?

If so, calculation of what owed is very simple to verify.

If students did not fulfil their obligations to the supplier at the time, best of luck to them!

Who currently is liable for the bill? Each and every person named on the bill.

perfect10

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi perfect10

The best advise I can give is for the students to collect as much information as they can in relation to the gas/electricity consumed during the relevant period, i.e. confirm the start and end meter readings with the relevant dates that they occupied the property. Hopefully these have been recorded by either the students or more likely the landlord. Also, I presume all students were named on the tenancy agreement. If so, our account can be updated with all relevant parties.

We will be able to send a copy of the final statement showing the meter readings that have been used (if a copy has not already been received). These meter readings can be checked against any accurate meter readings we received while the property was occupied by the students.

I would suggest that one of the students contact ScottishPower and confirm that there has been confusion in relation to the final bill. If a payment arrangement can be agreed then it is possible the additional fees can be removed.

If you want me to have a look into this for you then send me an email (email address is shown in our profile page).

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Thanks Colin - have forwarded this on to the students, think they have now phoned and are trying to get all the money collected from those that lived there, the next problem will be if anyone refuses to pay their share as the bill is only in one persons name!!