Scottish Power

Lindoriel

Hello Everyone!

I've run into a little problem with my energy provider Scottish Power. I switched to them from British Gas back in October 2010 and everything went smoothly, my direct debt came out on time each month and I kept up to date with my meter readings so each month was accurate.

A few weeks ago I had noticed that my monthly payments were always higher than my bills, even over winter, so when I seen I was £186 in credit going into summer I phoned them up to ask for my monthly payments to be recalculated and for the current balance to be refunded to me. The people on the phone were very pleasant and agreed to do this.

Then the next time I looked at my online bill I saw myself £150 in debit on my account and when I went to look back at my previous bills I saw all my bill history had been deleted and replaced by one bill for some £568 pounds. When I tried to open the bill the only information it gives me is that I'm being charged this amount from October '10 till March '11.

I immediately phoned the company and after a short discussion with a rude man who told me that I had obviously just not been paying my bills he put me through to who I'd previously been dealing with. She said that when looking at my bill she'd noticed Scottish Power hadn't been charging my day rates and that she had therefore recalculated this and charged me as such. She said that I'd be sent documentation of this and I asked for a full itemised bill for each month.

It's been two weeks now and I still haven't received any documentation. I've phoned them again and been told by another person that they wouldn't send this to me. I told them that I wouldn't pay them money with no proof that I owe it to them and that if their calculations were correct then I was basically paying double the amount for my electricity than with my previous supplier. They said they would look into and get back to me but again I still haven't heard anything.

What do I do? I can't help but find it suspicious that when I ask for a refund and my direct debt to be reduced they suddenly find that I should be paying almost double and leave me in debit. They've taken over £300 off of me and I've been left with no documentation to show why this has happened or any reasonable explanation. Also as my bills were all online the fact that they've deleted my past 6 months of my bill history leaves me worried that I'll have no proof to argue with.

Should I get in touch with citizens advice? Or is there a independent reviews body (like the ombudsman for banks) that I can contact to take my case forward?

Scottish_Power

Hi Lindoriel,

Sorry to here about the problems you have been having.

From what you have said it sounds like your electricity meter has two rates, one for the elelctricity used during the day and one for electricity used at night (charged at a cheaper rate). If we have only been billing you for one of the rates then this is the reason why your usage was less than expected.

It sounds like your account has now been re-worked billing you for the electricity used on both rates and left you with a balance.

If you want to e-mail me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] with your account details I can have a look at this for you, give you a more detailed explanation and provide you with any bills etc that you need.

Kind Regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower

Trivass

Hi all, I would appreciate any advice as well as giving out a warning to others. I switched to Scottish Power within the last year as after going through the units used on both gas and electricity my direct debit came out at £153 a month as opposed to the £180 + I was paying elsewhere.
Fast forward say nine months (ish), and I find my direct debit is £355 per month, and I have an outstanding balance of over £1000. I appreciate prices have risen but not to that extent, and there has been no major additions to my electrical items i.e. usage. When I contact them all I get is "thats what the meter says" (which it does), but that is the equivalent of a small factory not a family home and I am at a loss as to what to do next. I dont want to switch suppliers with a £1000 debit to start with (or would i have to pay that off first?), and no one seems to care that something is clearly wrong - my friends runs a guest house with £160 of electric a month so how can my house be over double that? Be warned - they are just not interested in helping their customers, even a blind man can see something is not quite right but they dont care and I am at a loss what to do next - any advice, anyone, please?

Freddie_Snowbits

Look for the utility thread here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77

There are better posters there. Be sure to have meter readings and bills at hand.

Oh and welcome