Confused at charge

Mupette

I have recently moved and notified my old electric company Scottish power that i would not be using them at the new place.

They sent me a bill of £20.

weird as i was a keymeter at my old place, never ran out of electric ever.. always made sure i was topped up.

They explained that when i moved to them from edf that i had credit on my key and that because the credit was on my edf key that edf had the money not them.


I am very confused as to have keymeter you pay in advanced for your electric.. when i switched i indeed had credit and was told to not use the scottish power key until i had used all my edf credit up.. that was all that was mentioned at the time.


move forward to last weekend when ringing scottish power to question the £20 bill and give meter reading as i still had a credit of £2.50 on the meter...

I was told that because i had credit on my meter when i switched edf got the money not scottish power, to me it seems i am being asked to pay for one lot of electric twice.

I asked was this in the terms and conditions, the lady on the phone said there was no terms and conditions as they don't sent this out as there are none, nor is there a contract.

But she said becuase i have now left the premises with a credit on the electric my bill was now £12.60 ish. (to pay)

I am confused, where do i stand, scottish power say there is no t & c and no contract, so no where is it written that i have to pay them for electric i have used, although i have already paid edf the money...

I asked what do i do, was told that i had to chase edf for the money, i asked why didnt scottish power do this, i have paid already..


If you have managed to understand my post and got this far thanks

DVardysShadow

Well, I sort of understand the question, but I don't understand the answer. The problem with an answer over the phone is that you can prove nothing. In your position, I would write and say that you have had an explanation over the phone which makes no sense, so could they please explain in writing. No doubt, if they have your phone number, someone will try and phone you to explain - or bamboozle you - I would be telling them to write.

Premier_2

When you moved in, you were being supplied by the existing supplier to that property.

You should have contacted that supplier, requested a key for you and provided a meter reading.

If you bought credit on someone else's key, you have paid their bill (and perhaps their debt!)

If the meter already had enough credit on it, it was bought & paid for by the previous occupant (who will probably be seeking a refund)

Once you were a registered customer of the existing supplier, you could have applied to switch supplier.

There are others ways to attempt this, but as you have found, it usually leads to all sorts of complications.

The £20 will relate to the cost of energy you consumed supplied by the original supplier.


It's a bit like saying you borrowed £20 from HSBC but you regularly have your pay deposited in LLoydstsb and you are well in credit with them.
Two different companies and two different accounts.

A prepayment meter is not a dispensing machine, but a method to (hopefully) pay as you use the amount required to settle your account ... but that relies on you having set up the account and paying the money to the correct company.

Mupette

I did ask for the explanation in writting, all i got was a revised bill.

Premier the address where all this happened, i had lived there for many years and had, had edf for a few years did the change of company correctly, informed them of my move to a new company...etc

Before i recieved notice of date of change to suppliers i would of topped up my key, (edf as i would not have recieved the scottish power one yet) then when i recieved a welcome pack from scottish power, with key (no T & C or contact with welcome pack, woman on phone confirmed they don't send out as there is no contract) I was informed to use the existing credit i had on the key (edf, i bought it so i need to use it) and wait until the credit was about to run out (ie a few pence) before inserting new key with more credit. Which is what i did, i was not told anything about having to pay scottish power money to cover what i had already paid to edf via key until i rang last week.


The bit i just find confusing is, with prepay.. it says what it is you pre pay. so i pre paid and used edf, change over happens, and now another company want that money... shouldnt they of chased edf.. as edf owe the money not me... i already paid, to me it looks like they want me to pay again, and then chase edf for the money... seems very long winded to me

KimYeovil

I don't understand. Why should EDF give you the £20 back? How are you paying twice?

You started with a £20 credit from EDF.

You maintained a contract with Scottish Power.

When you left Scottish Power there was not £20 left on the card/meter but only £8. To maintain the status quo you should be leaving with £20 in credit (which was the state, you suggested, when you entered.) Why should you not pay them the £12???

I am confused by your confusion. In what way are you paying twice?

Premier_2

Whoops, my mistake, I thought you said you would be using the supplier (SP) at the old address at the new. Re-reading I see you said you wouldn't.:o

When you buy credit, all you are doing is paying in advance against your account. Whilst the meter hopefully means you pay for what you use, this may not be the case.

Did you give an actual meter reading when you left the property? If not the supplier may have estimated it?

Even then, if the meter wasn't correctly calibrated with regards to unit cost, a shortfall may occur.

More explanation on how a debt can accrue when using a PPM available here:
http://cfe.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/cfe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5571&p_created=1210083427&p_sid=xTKmaK2k&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9OTcsOTcmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfcGFnZT01JnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9cHBtIGRlYnQ*&p_li=&p_topview=1

When, at your old place, you switched to SP from EDF, you had effectively overpaid EDF for the energy you had consumed.
You should have asked EDF for that back after the switch.

Edit: with regards to terms & conditions, I believe these apply:
http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/legal/terms-and-conditions.aspx

Mupette

I am with one supplier... i have credit on my key with them (being prepay you have to be in credit to use electric)

i then decide to move to a different supplier...

who tell me in thier welcome pack to not use their key until i have used up all my credit with the supplier i am leaving.

then when i leave the house and contact the company they want money from me for something that is not explained to me in the first place, is not in writing anywhere, there is no contract, no T & C's

The reason i feel i would be paying twice is, i have already paid edf for the electric and now scottish power want me to pay them the money too, which means i would of paid twice (i think)

I would be the one £20 (now £12) out of pocket, both companies would of been paid the money for one lot of electric.

Mupette

Premier wrote: »

Whoops, my mistake, I thought you said you would be using the supplier (SP) at the old address at the new. Re-reading I see you said you wouldn't.:o

When you buy credit, all you are doing is paying in advance against your account. Whilst the meter hopefully means you pay for what you use, this may not be the case.

Did you give an actual meter reading when you left the property? If not the supplier may have estimated it?

Even then, if the meter wasn't correctly calibrated with regards to unit cost, a shortfall may occur.

More explanation on how a debt can accrue when using a PPM available here:
http://cfe.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/cfe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5571&p_created=1210083427&p_sid=xTKmaK2k&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9OTcsOTcmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfcGFnZT01JnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9cHBtIGRlYnQ*&p_li=&p_topview=1

When, at your old place, you switched to SP from EDF, you had effectively overpaid EDF for the energy you had consumed.
You should have asked EDF for that back after the switch.

This is what sp are saying in a round about way that i need to contact edf for the money even tho its about 2 and a half years ago, and i would of thought edf would of sent me the money back, this is something i need to look into, but it seems such a long winded way when surly sp could just go to edf rather than put me through all this and risk my credit rating with a debt that was never explained to me when i made the supplier move

DVardysShadow

Mupette wrote: »

I did ask for the explanation in writting, all i got was a revised bill.

That is just another form of fobbing you off. In your position, I would write again, witha copy of the earlier letter and tell them that they have not given a satisfactory explanation.