Scottish Power Overcharging me on Economy 7?

Col_A

Bite whatever you like mate, I paid the bill that Scottish Power gave me every month without fail. If they make a mistake and then decide to fix it, that ain't my fault. In fact, bite me.

Gigglepig

Col_A wrote: »

Bite whatever you like mate, I paid the bill that Scottish Power gave me every month without fail. If they make a mistake and then decide to fix it, that ain't my fault. In fact, bite me.

be nice. If you post asking for opinions you will most likely get some that you may not like... :A

Col_A

I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, it would be boring if they didn't. I do have an objection to being talked down to and treated like an idiot though. It's unnecessary for someone who is apparently a regular user and will more than likely have greater knowledge of these things to tell me I'm talking rubbish and make childish 'bites tongue/lips' comments. Being nice works both ways.

SwanJon

I think the point Kim was trying to get across is that this isn't through no fault of yours. Obviously SP have to accept some responsibility, but they were sending you statements - did these say that you were paying for 'heating' or not? Do you check any bills before yo pay them?

macman

You said that you took readings from both meters, so did you not think it odd that the bills were showing only readings from one meter? E7 bills will show total consumption from each tier.

Col_A

My statements have the meter readings from both of my meters and a current balance on them. There's been some sort of breakdown in the system between the meter readings and the calculation of the balance (and therefore the payment due). I'm maybe missing something here but I genuinely don't know how I'm supposed to see this mistake myself?

I'm required to provide meter readings every 3 months and pay by monthly DDM. I provide the readings for both meters each time and receive a statement and amended DDM amount shortly afterwards. And it's not as if I can give wrong readings cos someone comes round every 6 months or so from SP (or whoever they outsource to) and reads the meters themselves. Maybe I've been a bit stupid but I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that SP will get my bills correct without me having to do my own calculations.

The thing is, Scottish Power have admitted full responsibility for the mistake and are being quite accomodating about the amount to be paid back. I'm not upset that I have to pay them, I used the electricity and have actually got away with not paying for quite a bit of it due to the rules that exist for this type of thing. I do think I'm within my rights to be unhappy that the mistake occured though, and the inconvenience it's going to cause me in having to find an extra £100+ per month to pay the money back.

KimYeovil

How are you paying an extra £100 per month? Are they reclaiming an underpayment of £1200 at £100 per month? If £100 per month is too much you can get that reduced to as little as £13 per month.

Of course if you do choose the £13 per month route then you will have to do this for eight years rather than just one year.

Col_A

Sorry, should've been clearer, the £100 includes usage going forward as well. I've counted the whole increase as 'extra' because I'm not paying it just now. I think about £35 (I haven't got official confirmation of the cost of my actual usage yet) of that amount will be towards the debit balance, which is around £650 so it looks like taking me about 20 months to pay off. It's not too bad overall I suppose, just hard to swallow such a big jump in the bill.

Scottish_Power

Hi Col A

I fully understand your situation. What sometimes confuses me is when customers provide meter readings for both of their meters (domestic meter and heating meter) and are then only billed for one meter. After you provided your meter readings and you received your statement showing the charges that were being applied to your account, did you notice on the statement that only one meter reading (or only one meter) was detailed on the second page? How did you check that the meter readings you were providing were being used by us?

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower