scottish power debt estimated 31 March 2013 at 10:40PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Energy 5 replies 597 views

mummy_jonno

I was wondering if someone could help me.

When we moved into this house (military) Scottish power tried to add someone's elses bills to our account even though they knew we weren't that specific person.

Basically I refused to pay our bill with them until they rectified this issue as I wasn't sure if we were paying our bill or theirs.

This took in excess of 6 months for them to finally deal with and now I am paying back a good chunk of money.

What I can't quite grasp is 80% of our "bills" are estimated.

Viewing the bills online an estimation one month is £325 then the following month would be an actual and it was only £179.

The issue I'm facing is I don't know if our debit of £1,900 currently is made up of these estimates which are clearly way over estimated or not and if not how do I make sure that £1,900 is a balance of "actual" rather than estimate.

Sorry I've tried to explain that as best I can.

I'd appreciate advise as every time I call them they don't seem to want to help me on this and obviously I don't want to be hundreds out of pocket because they estimated the bills.

Thanks in advance

Fire_Fox

Did you read the meters when you moved in, telephone the supplier and give that, your name and payment details? Are you reading the meters regularly now and passing these to the supplier? Supplier only has to read the meter every two years, incoming, outgoing and other readings in between are the bill payers responsibility.

mummy_jonno

When they were supposed to be sorting out the billing issues I didn't read the meters although the day after we moved in I called with our name, address, current readings ect. It's the time frame between then and now that most of the readings are estimated rather than actual.

They only ask for a reading every 6 months and due to my own fault I should have recorded them monthly but only did so when they asked every 6 months.

Now majority are estimates and the actual's seem a good £50-£100 lower than their actual's.

Every time I call them to basically say can you tell me how much we've used from the starting point up until now (none of that would be estimates) then deduct payments made I'd be able to see how much was owed and know it was made up of actual's they don't seem to want to do it and I end up going round in circles with "I read from a laminated card" call centre staff

Fire_Fox

Sorry I can't understand your last paragraph.

The bills are estimated because you are only supplying readings every six months, if YOU want monthly bills based on actual readings YOU need to supply readings monthly. The supplier doesn't ask for readings more often because they don't mind using estimates in between, it's you who has an issue with that.

Outside of the bills it's not their job to calculate what you have used and what you owe, you can do the maths yourself. Many of the big suppliers have smartphone apps now or you can submit readings by logging into your online account, you don't need to telephone. As stated the supplier only has to read the meters every two years.

dogshome

I find this difficult to understand - You have online access to read your bills, but don't seem to be using this access to regularly report your meter readings.

No matter how many 'Estimated' bills have been issued, the next bill based on an actual reading should show the 'True' Debit/Credit status of your account, but as you have found - The "read from the card" staff on the Customer Service desk aren't much help when sorting an account made complex by nil payments for 6 months and Estimated bills.

1) If your latest bill is based on an actual reading, either by you or a meter reader, then put a date in your diary 91 days forward from the date on that bill, to remind you to give SP your meter reads online - Doing this should give you accurate bills throughout the year.
2) If your latest bill is Estimated, give SP online readings now - This should produce an accurate bill from which you can begin your 91 day reporting cycle

Scottish_Power

Mummyjonno I think we have spoken about your account today by phone, if you need anything further please e-mail me at [EMAIL="social@scottishpower.com"][email protected][/EMAIL] Thanks David