Scottish Power adjusting estimate - also advice wanted

LucyToons

Ok i'm having a problem with Scottish Power (SP) and Grosvenor Legal Services (GLS) and need some advice.


I am currently in debit on my Scottish Power account, I have been making a payment monthly, although it has not been the full amount of the monthly payment that SP wanted, over this past year they have changed this amount 5 times that I can remember and figured it's better to make some payment (more than half) than none at all, I have only missed 1 month but this was due to a family death and was unable to sort out my bills for 1 month.

From middle of this month onwards I have managed to sort my money so that I can make a payment of £80 a month, this seems to be just over what they have been wanting.

Then a few days ago I received a letter thru the door (hand delivered) from GLC of which I have attached an image, my question is can they disconnect my services (I thought this was now illegal) as I am still making a payment to SP each month, and can they force entry (again I thought this was no longer allowed).

I am due to phone SP as I had an estimated bill just over a month and a half ago (dated 14th April), with 1 reading on, I then submitted my meter readings (which were higher than this estimated reading) a week later and have noticed that on the new bill that was created with my meter readings on, the estimate given on 14th April now seems to have mysteriously changed so that it is lower than my readings.

I am also going to phone GLC but don't actually know what i'm supposed to say to them, I spoke to someone at SP a couple of weeks ago and they made no mention of GLC and after I explained to them my situation of why I couldn't pay the whole monthly amount and that I would be able to go back to paying £80 per month from middle of this month they said that would be ok.

eurmalian

Unfortunately, if you weren't making the agreed payments (if they change the rate and you don't challenge it then it counts as agreed) then they are witing their rights to take things further, themselves or via a debt collector. It doesn't matter if you were paying some of it, if it wasn't the set ammount then they will consider the agreement broken (which it is, realistically speaking).

It's also a fully established process to apply for a warrant to enter your property and fit a pre-payment meter, whether you want one or not. They shouldn't actually cut the supply off, just remove the current meter and put in a Prepay.

I'd give them a call, see if they'll give you a new payment plan at a rate you can afford and if not, ask to have a Prepayment meter put in. At least if you request it yourself then you avoid the two or three hundred pounds for the warrant, which is also passed on to you to pay.

macman

How much is your current debt? At £80pm, how long will it take to clear the debt (allowing for your ongoing consumption and the recent price rise)? If you can't start to clear the debt while paying for current usage, then a voluntary PPM is the only realistic option.

LucyToons

Hi eurmalian, I was meeting the monthly payments and was paying a little bit more each month, until at the beginning of the year when I phoned them to explain that I was not able to keep up with the full amount each month, I was not told of any consequences at this time and was also in credit at that point.

I did challenge the monthly payments changing after it happened twice but was told that it was a system generated thing and they could not override this to adjust the payments.

LucyToons

I currently owe about £450; however that includes the estimate changing (so should be a bit lower, but only by about £15 or £20), and also made a payment of £40 this week which hasn't shown yet.

(note: just checked and payment has shown today, am now £413.93 in debit)

If I keep up with paying £80 a month I can clear it quickish, and now that we are getting the warmer weather my gas will go down a bit.

After checking my comparisons on their site compared to last year, I have apparently used alot more than last year, which I find hard to believe as last year I had insulation put in my loft (had none what-so-ever before) and have reduced the time my boiler is on for. I have also reduced my electric usage slightly by using my laptop more (in the last year I have used my PC 4 times for about an hour a time), have also stopped leaving my tv on standby overnight and started unplugging everything that doesn't need to be plugged in when I go away for more than a day.

eurmalian

The advisor you spoke to should have told you the consequences of not fully meeting payments, but I don't think they'll change much because they didn't. They also must have the ability to over-ride the system, otherwise it's very, very badly designed. It might require a manager or someone to do, but there has to be a way. For some reason or another though they've chosen not to here though.

You might be able to get something done with a complaint to them, but I suspect that anything of that sort is basically going to boil down to an answer of 'they didn't agree to change the payments and then you stopped meeting the ammount' which basically means that unless something new is sorted out for paying it they're allowed to go down the debt collector and warrant route...

I would think that they will have cancelled the payment plan you had with them if the debt has been passed to an outside company, so you're best off either trying to sort out a payment for the debt with GLC and another one with Scottish Power for the usage or trying to get GLC to pass the debt back to SP so that you can arrange one payment with them to cover both.

Failing that, as I said, it's much better to ask for a Prepayment meter yourself than to have one forced on you complete with warrant charges...

macman

LucyToons wrote: »

I currently owe about £450; however that includes the estimate changing (so should be a bit lower, but only by about £15 or £20), and also made a payment of £40 this week which hasn't shown yet.

(note: just checked and payment has shown today, am now £413.93 in debit)

If I keep up with paying £80 a month I can clear it quickish, and now that we are getting the warmer weather my gas will go down a bit.

After checking my comparisons on their site compared to last year, I have apparently used alot more than last year, which I find hard to believe as last year I had insulation put in my loft (had none what-so-ever before) and have reduced the time my boiler is on for. I have also reduced my electric usage slightly by using my laptop more (in the last year I have used my PC 4 times for about an hour a time), have also stopped leaving my tv on standby overnight and started unplugging everything that doesn't need to be plugged in when I go away for more than a day.

£80 a month will clear your debt in about 5 months,but you seem to be forgetting about ongoing usage. You don't say how much you use, but if it's say £40pm, then you need to be paying £120pm to keep up and clear the debt.

LucyToons

i'm not sure how i work out my on going use, I have trouble understanding the bills that are generated as it shows so many amounts I don't know what's what

macman

Well what was your DD set at before you got into debt? Or ring up SP, get your annual kWh consumption (or calculate it from your bills), and put that into a comp site to tell you your annual bill at current prices. Divided by 12, that will give you your monthly spend.
But if you don't know what your monthly expenditure is, then a PPM might be a better solution long term.

KimYeovil

You don't need to understand your bills/statements - all you need to know is your consumption, how much it costs and your account balance/debt. No need to confuse yourself trying to parse complicated statements.

LucyToons

ok looking at what it has for consumption for last bill period...

Bill period
13/02/11 - 04/05/11 (81 days)
...................Electricity (kWh).....Cost..........Standing Charge
Total Units....367.......................12.309p.......20.190

...................Gas (kWh).............Cost..........Standing Charge
Total Units....2434.....................3.456p........16.800p

i was having boiler on over winter 1 hr in the morning (boiler heats water and radiators at same time) and about 4 -5 hours per night
then about feb - april i had boiler coming on 1hr in morning as always and about 2 -3hrs per night (was away for 3 weeks in april so changed to hr in morning, 1hr at night), then for last 2 months 1hr in morning and 1hr in evening.

not sure if any of that makes a difference though?

macman: my dd i had setup was £80 but at one point they wanted to increase this £99 despite being in credit on my account.