scottish power and fuel direct!?

movingforward2010

for he past 5 years my mum has been payingfor electricty though the fuel direct scheme via the Dept for Work and Pensions , where they have been deducting £13 p/w to pay for electricity, she wasnt in arrear it was just easier for her.

Anyway she recieved a bill from scottish power a few months back saying that she owes £1440!:eek: , apparently scottish power havent been taking enough, she doesnt know what to do they now want her payments to be £ 50 p/w to repay it- yes £50 p/w!!

ive spoke to scottish power and they say it isnt there fault, also fuel direct say it isnt theres either, so stale mate, it has been looked to indepdantly and nothing has come of it. All scottish power said it was my mums fault as she should of checked her bills - maybe so but she didnt know she owed more, she thought it was all being covered by her deductions.

today scottishpower came and installed a prepayment meter set at 10.12 per unit, plus a 17p per day service charge and a weekly deduction or £12!:eek:

my mum is only on Income support and she cant afford it. she doesnt know what to do

suzy_g

go to energy watch they are brillant they sorted out my problem with scottish power

movingforward2010

we tried energy watch nothing came of it

tripled

From what I know of fuel direct, payments are made by the DWP directly to the utility company, so Scottish Power can't change them and the DWP wouldn't change them unless your mother asked them to, which probably explains the stalemate. It looks like there is very little you or she can do I'm afraid except try to negotiate a lower payment with Scottish Power. In future always remember to check your bills!

Crystaltipps_2

Fuel direct should be set to collect estimated consumption plus just less than £3 towards any arrears per week. If your mother had no arrears, then the £13 p/w would have just been for consumption
If her payments haven't been reviewed for 5 years then her consumption amount will now be way off, which is why she now has the outstanding balance. It is Scottish Power's responsibility to review the payments to check if they are enough - not the DSS. There is an arguement to say that your mother should have been keeping an eye on her bills too. However, Fuel direct payments are usually set for more elderly people or those that can't deal with a normal prepayment meter (although they can also be used by customers who do not fall into either of these categories and just find it easier to pay like this), so I would go back to Scottish Power and argue a bit for two things:

1) A reduction of the debt collection rate on the meter. You say it is set to collect at £12 - you should be able to get this down to at least £5, maybe £3 per week by saying that your mother is on Income Support and can't afford it.

2) A reduction in the total arrears outstanding. You mention the payments were reviewed a few months back. If this was after 1st July 2006, you may be covered by the ERA Billing Code which entitles customers to an accurate bill, but also covers customers who are on budget plans being reviewed to see if they are paying enough (DD, payment card and Fuel direct). Depending on Scottish Power's interpretation of this, they may be persuaded to remove approx 3/5ths of the arrears.

movingforward2010

my mum suffers from depression and self harms amongst other things , she finds it hard to cope sometimes, this is why she was having money deducted directly from her benefits. The DWP say the pay the amount the scottish power ask for, surley if they found her consumption higher they should of informed the DWP to take slightly higher payments.

Im discusted by scottish power tbh, how can they just present a bill for £1400 to some one on benefits , i mean id be panicing if i had a bill like that and i work full time, they have refunded a goodwill £50 credit.
Its totally stupid the whole point of fuel direct its to help people in my mother situation, Scottish power have made a huge mistake - not the DWP or my mother they both paid what they were asked for, now scottish power are being totally unreasonable.

My mum wont have any heating, lights or cook food as she is scared that she'll fun out of credit, it really is getting out of hand, and scottish power dont give a damn.

plumduff-2

Had a similar problem on DHUK a while back.. the full reading is here... (but it does relate to British Gas in this instance..)

http://www.debthelpuk.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=DHUL;action=display;num=1154011964;start=12#12

However, the following part was pulled from Code of Practice...

"if your supplier is at fault, and you do not receive a bill for more than two years, then from July 2006 and outstanding debt that relates to energy consumed more than two years ago will be cancelled"Energy Retail Association "Understanding your electricty and gas bills: Code of Practice for Accurate Bills"


I think you should go and see a CAB adviser, who may be able to draft a letter to SP on Mums behlaf, this does appear to be there fault... Mum is old and vulnerable - were they aware of htis... if so, then they should have taken extra precautions to assist her...

On top of this, as she is on IS and is a vulnerable person, they should collect any debt at the rate of £2.90 per week, this is Fuel Direct levels and argue that if they dont, you will be complaining to the relevant authorities..

Another point - consider changing suppliers... she could then repay SP off at the rate of £1 per MONTH.. as they would then be a non prioirty creditor and she is on IS....