Scottish Power: Thermaflow & Economy 2000 Woes!!

mr_boo1711

Hi,

I'm looking for anyone who could potentially help with my heating problem.

I switched from Economy 7 storage heaters to Economy 2000, using a 210ltr Thermaflow wet radiator boiler system - this was back in August 2010 approx.

By direct debit was a approx £110 consistently, but after I changed I had a whole host of problems with Scottish Power. first I was on the wrong tariff which confused things and my bills climbed up to £400 per month. That was corrected, or so I thought, and then recently after my bills returning to the £110 for the past 6 months I called to give a meter reading. The end result was that they said they had made a mistake for the past 12+ months and re-evaluated my billing again. Now its up at £160 per month, but I can see based on how they are billing me that its going to go through the roof!

I'm not sure what is to blame... the billing, the meter, or something I'm doing (Which I dont think is the likely one of the three - but I'll hold my hands up if I can get my head round it all and it is me.).

Some more details:-

Meter: Horstmann 2A NU077-220 Telemeter
Currently shows:-
RATE 1: 23,416 (element 1) (Billed @ £0.11652)
RATE 2: 06,156 (*says nothing*) (Billed @ £0.06839)
TOTAL: 69,092 (element 2) (Billed @ £0.06839)

When installed RATE 1 + RATE 2 = TOTAL, but now as you can see they are out of sync completely. Furthermore, when I look at my online pdf bills they say my starting readings were 17909 + 4190 = *47912* (which says its an estimate). I know for a FACT that the 'total reading' at that time stated 22,099 and that it was an actual that was recorded by both myself and the meter installer (I only recently threw out the hard copies from the arguments with SP last year unfortunately). Scottish power are billing on all THREE values. I have all the readings on an excel sheet and it looks horrifying when you apply the above tariffs.

In 14 Days my 3 readings have changed by the following values
RATE 1: +97 units (Average 6.9 p/day)
RATE 2: +38 units (Average 2.7 p/day)
RATE 3: +2010 units (Average 143 p/day)

I have a 2 bedroom flat, with the heating on between 6-8am, and 5-10pm @ 20Deg on the thermostat - which clicks off fairly quickly and the tank doesnt seem to be working too hard.

This TOTAL reading seems to be where the issues lie - previous averages were taken every 2 months or so and are noted below starting at most recent reading first:-

From To Average per day
29/02/2012 14/03/2012 143.5714286
16/01/2012 29/02/2012 30.31818182
01/09/2011 16/01/2012 39.62773723
17/07/2011 01/09/2011 8.326086957
20/05/2011 16/07/2011 11.1754386
08/03/2011 19/05/2011 29.72222222
04/01/2011 07/03/2011 59.33870968
01/09/2010 03/01/2011 44.90322581
11/08/2010 31/08/2010 9.55

Apologies for the massive info dump - but I'm at my wits end. I sent SP a complaint email requesting a visit from a rep and then got a call back 2 days later which I missed. I then got an email March 7th saying someone would be in touch ASAP but I havent heard anything... and I'd like to try getting my head around this myself and gain some opinion before they turn up.

Any ideas everyone?

Thanks for your help, and apologies for giving you all that text to read!

Stephen

Terrylw1

E2000 is a single register to give 20 hours off peak, but since its a telemeter it will combined with your other single rate day meter.

I suggest your supplier needs to look at the meters and readings from their agents.

When you meter was installed they were sent a dataflow from the meter operator. On this data flow there is a code called SSC which in your case will be 0716, 0717, 0718 or 0719. Attached to this is a code called TPR which tells them which register they should bill you on. In your case it will be 00339, 00340, 00341 or 00342. These codes updigit by 1 with the SSC code on this meter.

If the supplier looks at the SSC and then TPR codes, they can then trace your meter fitting reading and any later readings. The meter Id's won't match to your meter but your supplier can call the meter operator to check this for you.

The reason ive said this is because staff often key in totaliser readings as ones that should bill when they are only for recording as the day plus off peak rates are used to bill against your agreed tariff prices.

Totaliser errors can cause sharp jumps and massive bills since you are being billed twice and beyond dependent on how many registers are involved.

If the call centre can't answer inline with what I've suggested, complain to complaints team instead as it means you are talking to someone who doesn't understand how this works. The above is the first check trained back office support teams would make before consumption and usage should be considered.