Scottish Power Pre-Payment Bil

MummaHippo

I am a widow with 2 children and only get a widows pension I therefore have a pre-payment meter from Scottish Power to ensure that I can budget my money (what little there is) and ensure I do not get into debt. I put £15 per week on my key which just about covers us for a week.

Today I received a letter from SP saying I had a debt on my account of £336. Obviously I called them straight away, not understanding how this could be possible, surely it wasn't!! They said my meter was set incorrectly and I can pay £11.35 pw until Dec and the debt will be paid. I simply cannot afford that. I have sent a complaint to their complaints dept and waiting to hear back, but until it is sorted I am lumbered with this debt

Has anyone else come across this and surely I shouldn't have to pay for their mistake and can i switch suppliers?

brewerdave

Presumably you are on an older type of prepayment meter where the rate isn't altered remotely when there is a price increase. It has to be reset on a visit.
I'm sure someone with a better understanding of prepayment will be along to offer suggestions but don't think that you will be allowed to switch with a deficit.

MummaHippo

brewerdave wrote: »

Presumably you are on an older type of prepayment meter where the rate isn't altered remotely when there is a price increase. It has to be reset on a visit.
I'm sure someone with a better understanding of prepayment will be along to offer suggestions but don't think that you will be allowed to switch with a deficit.

I asked them that but apprently not. The key is supposedly updated when it is topped up at a shop. The guy I spoke to said the key could have picked up another companies lower rates. That sounded a bit random to me !!

MummaHippo

Whoop whoop victory for the little guy ..... I told them I was going to switch to British Gas and they passed it to the complaints dept. Wait for it ........................ It really it worth the wait ........................ They are going to get rid of the debt on my account

t0rt0ise

Good for you. But now maybe time to do a comparison on one of the sites.. I use uSwitch.. to see if anyone else is cheeaper.

Scottish_Power

Hi MummaHippo,

It is occasionally the case with pre-payment meters that the signal we send to update our prices is not picked up by the meter.

This could mean that you pay the prices of the local supplier from when the meter is installed.

In this instance you will pay at the incorrect rate through the meter but we will calculate your bills on our prices, hence the balance.

Normally these balances would not be written off in full, so you have had a very good result.

If you have any further problems with this you can e-mail me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I will do my best to assist you.

Kind regards

Graeme