Advice Needed

the_wildman

Hello,

I moved into a one bedroom flat over 18 months ago and foolishly signed up with Scottish Power.

For the first year, I was paying £20 a month for both gas and electric. I was careful with the amount of gas and electric that I've been using but Scottish Power but my monthly bill up to £73 a month to take into account my useage and to pay off the debit on my account.

I have tried entering the meter readings on a monthly basis on the SP website but I get an email saying that I haven't entered them and need to add them.

A couple of weeks ago, two chaps knocked on the door and asked if I wanted to join Npower. I said I would consider it and showed them my SP bill. The Npower rep said it was the lowest useage that he had ever seen in 2.5 years on the job and they had difficulty in calculating a monthly amount but eventually found a way of charging me £10 a month for both gas and electric and they would pay back the debit each year. I therefore agreed to sign up.

However, I got a voicemail message today from SP saying that I had quite a large debit on my account and owed them £1,400. In view of the amount that I had previously been paying and the fact that I was told by Npower I was a low user and would only pay £10 a month, I simply cannot understand this.

Any advice/suggestions, please?

Many thanks.

Premier_2

In that 18 month period they should have sent you half a dozen statements/bills, so I don't follow why you are suddenly surprised.

Make sure they reflect actual meter readings.

Scottish_Power

Hi the_wildman

£20.00 per month is very low for both gas and electricity even if you are careful with your consumption. A fridge and freezer alone would almost use up your £10 electricity payment.

Have a look at the meter readings that were used to bill your account. Were the meter readings all estimated and then you have received a bill showing an accurate meter reading. Our online system, as my experience has shown, is that it works great if the account is set up with the correct information at the start. If your account has been changed onto an online tariff and your correct email address is being used then you should be able to update meter readings and generate a statement there and then which will show you the gas and electricity charges up to the meter readings you provide. If you have not been able to do this then give us a call or send an email so that we can investigate this for you and resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

If you have received a bill for £1400 then what information is NPower looking at to confirm that you are a low user? Are they being shown estimated statements which do not reflect your actual usage?

We will be able to give you all the answers you are looking for. Have a look at the link below on how to contact us and also escalate the matter if you are not happy with the information you are given:

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/support-centre/service-and-standards/complaints.aspx

If you would like me to investigate this for you then send me an email to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I will find out what has been happening.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower