Scottish Power undercharged me, now they want it back...

Engineer200

I've just had a bill for £1,459 :mad: yes I couldn't believe it either. I fully understand how the DD works I've been paying my bills that way for over 23 years! so when i noticed my estimates were getting a bit low i sent a reading over the internet. I then forgot about it and assumed they would correct the amounts to bring it back inline. They also read the meter. But in there infinite wisdom decided not to use any readings provided but used estimates instead. I'm now arguing that they should reduce the amount as had i been aware of this level of usage i would have cut back significantly. They accept they have under performed but insist i still owe the money. Does anybody have experience of the best way to fight this sort of problem? They have offered extend payment terms but as noted this locks you in and why should i have all the pain for partly their mistake. (My supplier is Powergen)

IvanOpinion

eira wrote: »

Had nexactly the same trouble with Scotish Power-mapyments went up from £75 to over £200 a month. I contacted Energy watch who said that sincew it was the company's fault I should receive a discount on the debts 9which I did0 and repayment schedule I could 'afford'(it's now down to £163) They are very expensive but I am now stuck with them because of this debt. They claimed that prices would come down on June 15th-no sign of this yet.

The prices did come down in most PES areas for both SP and EDF

ivan

IvanOpinion

moneywisemum wrote: »

I switched to Scottish Power 2 years ago via Uswitch because they offered the best deal at the time. They then proceeded to undercharge my by £50 a month for a whole year before they realised their mistake and then said I owed them £600+

I negotiated a payment of £100 per month for the last 12 months and now I'm told I owe them £870 and my monthly payment will be increased to £213.50 if I can't pay off some of the balance owing.

This has caused me a huge problem because I could have afforded the initial payment they undercharged me by, but will really be struggling to afford over £200 per month.

Does anyone know if they can insist on my paying for their mistake?

I'd appreciate any comments!

One has to be careful with broker sites such a uSwitch. If you key the numbers in wrongly then you may get an answer you like but ultimately you will be accruing a debt. All companies will take in good faith the numbers supplied through a broker site.

One thing that we have to be careful with is that when you applied to SP it was just before the start of the significant price rises that we saw. Many people will have been caught by this and have serious underpayments. I am surprised they accepted a £100 negotiated payment considering in a year that would never cover the full amount (if £50 a month was for your underpayment then paying £100 per month means you are only paying £50 off your bill?).

By my calculations the £213 seems a bit high. Assuming you phoned in before last Wednesday your assessment will have been based on prices prior to a price reduction that was implemented last week. If you phone in again then the assessment should be based on the new lower prices and may well be significantly lower. You might then be able to negoitiate a payment that is slightly lower, however remember all you are doing is deferring the debt to the following year.

Ivan

eira

Followed the advice for getting onto the cheaper tariff with Scottish Power but my section of My Account just didn't offer it. I have now contacted Energy Watch-again