In a pickle with Scottish Power

What_to_do_5

Hi All

Hope you can help, I fell into some trouble paying my gas and electricity bill a few years back and they came into my house while I was at work (without warning) and installed card meters. So I tried to resolve this through customer service to no avail. This led me to do some digging on my own in which I have sent the customer service director an email to see if I can get anywhere through this route but as yet still haven't had any response.

Hopefully someone will be able to advise on what my next course of action should be to get this resolved soon.

The email I sent was 23-Jan-2010:

Dear Sir/Madam

I have been a customer of Scottish Power now for many years, and in that time my bills have never been accurate despite meter readings being taken regularly by data serve. Recently I have been working through bills that I have, however, it seems that I am not receiving bills every month/quarter therefore I am not able to calculate accurately. I would appreciate a copy of all my bills for both accounts above from the date I joined Scottish Power as my supplier up until the present day. There have been gaps in the past and at this moment in time there has been a period of 12 months since my last statement.

To let you understand my bills are extremely wrong and I have been overpaying now for a considerable amount of time which is more than double what I should. I am currently being billed (gas) approximately 44,000 kwh per annum for a small 2 bedroom semi-detached house but when I work it out using the data, I myself have collected over the past year, I actually use in the region of 22,000 kwh per annum, so as you can see, I am clearly paying for gas that I am not using.

I have tried to work with Scottish Power in the past and allow them to rectify the account on my behalf, but this has proven unsuccessful and resulted in a break-in to my property to install gas and electricity meters which I have since found out is illegal.

Following this I would now like to take the matter into my own hands and calculate exactly how much I have used since joining Scottish Power and how much money I have overpaid to take the matter further. As for legal action following the break-in, this will be discussed in the near future with my solicitor.

I would appreciate a prompt response from you regarding this matter as these meters are costing more than all of my other bills, including mortgage payments, each month.

Edit: Also I should mention that becuase of these meter's I am now paying at least £5 per day on each meter so at the end of each month I have almost paid more to SP than I have to my mortgage.

dogshome

Hi What-to-do - You have got it right so far by asking for copies of previous bills - Scot. Power have to supply them if you ask, though it would have been better if you had written by snail mail - I suggest you give them 21 days to answer and if they have not by then, you do write heading the letter complaint - just like that in bold

44,000kw a year on gas is so absolutely huge that I'm wondering if you have your figures correct, even 22,000kw for a 2 bed house is above average.
When you do get your bills try to break them down into Kw used each year - it seems possible that some of these billing figures are on estimated readings, in which case measure the use between actual readings, no matter how far apart they are
Good Luck

What_to_do_5

Yeah I'm beginning to think I should have used snail mail, on my e-mail I had the subject as "URGENT COMPLAINT!".

I know, 44k is crazy but they just kept telling me that is what I use! My figures are approximated but they are fairly close on the last bill I received (jan 09) they state I used 10,995 kwh this was over a quarter. So following this I found my initial meter reading when I moved into the house and took the current reading to work out how much I have used over the years and broke it down from there to get the approx 22k.

I did for a while used to leave my heating on overnight so yeah I used to use above average but not the crazy amounts they are saying as I am out most of the day at work.

It's the same with my electricity, they are saying I am using crazy amounts too, yet again their figures don't come anywhere near mine. It's strange too that when I started to query everything after receiving a bill for £1,482 that I stopped receiving statements and bills, and when I phone I just get told that it is correct.

dogshome

Hi What_to_do - I'm afraid that power companies do have the right to enter your premises, so there isn't any mileage in complaining about this,

Your Emailed complaint was sent on 23 Jan, so it's a bit early to expect a reply. However it's a bit too long, and the most important thing in it being your request for copy bills, is buried away in in the first paragraph ( I've sent similar mails myself when I'm angry, which you have every right to be )

You need to get fast action on this, so write a letter, heading it Complaint - Just like that in bold. - asking why you have not had a reply to your Email request for copy bills and enclose with it a copy of your Email with the passage requesting copy bills underlined
Keep the letter short and concentrate on just the request for copy bills
Good Luck

Scottish_Power

Hi What_to_do

Sorry to hear about your situation. I'll do my best to answer your queries for you.

If SP entered your house to install prepayment meters due to an outstanding debt on your account, we would have obtained a Warrant of Entry prior to entering your house. This action is done to ensure that no further debt is accrued and that if you wish to continue using gas and electricity then you pay for this before you use it.

As soon as prepayment meters are installed you no longer receive statements quarterly and instead they are issued annually.

If you received a statement in January 2009 and it was billed to accurate meter readings, have a look at your gas meter readings now and this will give you a good idea of what you are using over a 12-month period.

According to the information you have given regarding the January 2009 statement, you have been charged 10995 kWh for gas for only a quarter. Were the start readings on this statement estimated with an actual end reading. If this is the case, it is possible that we have been unable to gain entry to your property to read your meter and as a result of this we have been underestimating how much gas you are using. By then obtaining an accurate meter reading this creates a catch up bill which would look like your using a lot of gas in a short period of time.

Gas consumption varies greatly over the whole year and you will use far more during the winter months than you will during the summer months. If you did in fact use 10995 over a winter quarter, it is very unlikely that you will use this amount over a summer quarter therefore I would not guess your annual consumption by multiplying a winter quarter by 4.

Like dogshome advises, the best way to assess what you are really using is to look at two accurate meter readings as close to 12-months apart. This way you are taking into account both the colder winter months and the warmer summer months. Check previous statements that have been issued to you and see if you have meter readings from the same month one year apart.

It is likely that your prepayment meters have been set with a debt recovery rate which is why you will be putting a considerable amount in each month. Your prepayment meter will tell you how much debt is on the meter and how much you are paying per week towards this debt.

When you contacted SP, did you say why you think you have been billed incorrectly? Have you identified an error in a statement?

I hope that this information has been helpful for you. Please let me know if you have any further queries and I will try my best to help.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

markharding557

I very much doubt sp would have entered your home without warning they would certainly have requested access before obtaining a warrant and you will have been written to about this.
This will have cost you hundreds in charges as well

What_to_do_5

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi What_to_do

Sorry to hear about your situation. I'll do my best to answer your queries for you.

If SP entered your house to install prepayment meters due to an outstanding debt on your account, we would have obtained a Warrant of Entry prior to entering your house. This action is done to ensure that no further debt is accrued and that if you wish to continue using gas and electricity then you pay for this before you use it.

As soon as prepayment meters are installed you no longer receive statements quarterly and instead they are issued annually.

If you received a statement in January 2009 and it was billed to accurate meter readings, have a look at your gas meter readings now and this will give you a good idea of what you are using over a 12-month period.

According to the information you have given regarding the January 2009 statement, you have been charged 10995 kWh for gas for only a quarter. Were the start readings on this statement estimated with an actual end reading. If this is the case, it is possible that we have been unable to gain entry to your property to read your meter and as a result of this we have been underestimating how much gas you are using. By then obtaining an accurate meter reading this creates a catch up bill which would look like your using a lot of gas in a short period of time.

Gas consumption varies greatly over the whole year and you will use far more during the winter months than you will during the summer months. If you did in fact use 10995 over a winter quarter, it is very unlikely that you will use this amount over a summer quarter therefore I would not guess your annual consumption by multiplying a winter quarter by 4.

Like dogshome advises, the best way to assess what you are really using is to look at two accurate meter readings as close to 12-months apart. This way you are taking into account both the colder winter months and the warmer summer months. Check previous statements that have been issued to you and see if you have meter readings from the same month one year apart.

It is likely that your prepayment meters have been set with a debt recovery rate which is why you will be putting a considerable amount in each month. Your prepayment meter will tell you how much debt is on the meter and how much you are paying per week towards this debt.

When you contacted SP, did you say why you think you have been billed incorrectly? Have you identified an error in a statement?

I hope that this information has been helpful for you. Please let me know if you have any further queries and I will try my best to help.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Hi Colin

I know you are only answering on behald of SP but this is the problem I am facing, yeah I have told them on several occasions that I am being billed incorrectly only to be told that the amounts are correct, I'd challenge you to use that amount of gas in such a small time, lol, wont be easy. Customer services have been extremely unhelpful and wont actually listen to what I am telling them. I have taken note of the meter reading from when I moved in to the house and used the current reading to come up with my consumption to date all I asked is that they do the same with the fgures they have and work it out as I'm sure they will see how overcharged I have been.

On the note regarding entering my home, I can assure you I wasn't notified until after they had been into my home. If I had been notified I would have ensured to be at my property to avoid the embarassment of them having to force entry, I live in a very small, quiet street.

I get the way these meters work but they are a rip off with the way they charge, if you had one you'd understand. I understand all the pay for what you use and I am happy to, I'm just not happy paying for gas that I'm not using. It's just ripping off the poor even more.

So as you will see from my letter, I have tried to work with customer services previously to resolve the matter and found them unhelpful, basically just wanting off the phone, so now i have requested that all my bills be sent to me, then I can do the maths personally checking against actual usage and payments made via DD and also the meter. On the statements I do have I see too many estimates in times where I can assure you that there was readings taken.

Apologies for the rant, but noone seems to listen to these problems, they just automatically think "well you should have paid your bill" without thinking that there may have been reason for it.

What_to_do_5

markharding557 wrote: »

I very much doubt sp would have entered your home without warning they would certainly have requested access before obtaining a warrant and you will have been written to about this.
This will have cost you hundreds in charges as well

No there was no warning, as per my previous post I would have ensured to be home if this was the case. Yeah no doubt another money making scam to help the poor get poorer.

ex-energywatch_adviser

I may be stating the obvious but when you say you are working from a readng on the meter when you moved in to a current reading you mean the reading when you moved in to the reading on the old meter when it was removed, then the opening reading on the new meter to the current reading. Also was the old gas meter metric or imperial?

What_to_do_5

ex-energywatch_adviser wrote: »

I may be stating the obvious but when you say you are working from a readng on the meter when you moved in to a current reading you mean the reading when you moved in to the reading on the old meter when it was removed, then the opening reading on the new meter to the current reading. Also was the old gas meter metric or imperial?

Yeah I used the reading I had from when I moved in to the last actual reading I have on one of the bills then from the day the meter was intalled to the following year to roughly work out my figures. I know they wont be 100% accurate but they will be closer than what I'm being charged.

I just really need all my bills to work everything out accurately. Then I can do a comparison of what I have paid compared to the outstanding balance of debt on each meter. The old meter was metric.

notbritishgas

What_to_do wrote: »

Yeah I used the reading I had from when I moved in to the last actual reading I have on one of the bills then from the day the meter was intalled to the following year to roughly work out my figures. I know they wont be 100% accurate but they will be closer than what I'm being charged.

I just really need all my bills to work everything out accurately. Then I can do a comparison of what I have paid compared to the outstanding balance of debt on each meter. The old meter was metric.

Have you checked that they have billed you for a metric meter?
If they have billed you as an imperial one then your bills will be 2.83 times too big.
Hope I have not raised your hopes too much.