Scottish Power: Cancellation Charge

Deehem

I was hoping somebody could shed some light on this as I'm rather annoyed at the moment.

I moved in to my new property on 1st June 2013 and immediately called Scottish Power who were the current provider to the property. I made my intentions clear that I was not sticking with them and had already called British Gas up prior to the telephone call to start the migration process of the electricity.

The process of migration has been ongoing for some weeks now (which is to be expected). I updated my meter readings on the Scottish Power website the other day and noticed a sole electricity bill for ~£72.00. I was shocked and immediately began working up the cost per kWh which came to around ~£47.00 (wondering where this £25 extra had come from).

I called Scottish Power, resulting in 30 minute on hold periods and becoming disconnected twice. I then sent an email to which I got a response today, it concluded that the £25 was a cancellation fee for the existing supply.

When I called Scottish Power, they told me nothing of a cancellation fee over the phone and this is just the most basic account whilst they transfer the supply out to British Gas. Any further letters I have received from Scottish Power do not mention a cancellation fee anywhere.

I don't really want to pay this £25 as money is tight at the moment but I feel waiting from Friday until today for a response each time from them is abysmal.

Should I need to pay this charge? Surely it would reside with the old tenant to cancel the supply since I never had an account with SP?

Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.

Scottish_Power

Hi, can you email your full address & a contact telephone number to social@scottishpower.com & I'll look into this. Regards Gerry

Deehem

Done. Thank you.

DirectDebacle

Deehem wrote: »

When I called Scottish Power, they told me nothing of a cancellation fee over the phone and this is just the most basic account whilst they transfer the supply out to British Gas. Any further letters I have received from Scottish Power do not mention a cancellation fee anywhere.
Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.

You might find this thread and responses from SP reps re questions on cancellation fees interesting. Posts #54 onwards.

PM sent.

Deehem

DirectDebacle wrote: »

You might find this thread and responses from SP reps re questions on cancellation fees interesting. Posts #54 onwards.

PM sent.

Ah, It doesn't look like I received your PM.

DirectDebacle

Deehem wrote: »

Ah, It doesn't look like I received your PM.

Check again. Should be there if not I'll re-send.

macman

Which SP tariff did you sign up to? Standard tariff has no ETC's. But
you really should have registered for an account with SP before you contacted BG to commence a switch.

Deehem

macman wrote: »

Which SP tariff did you sign up to? Standard tariff has no ETC's. But
you really should have registered for an account with SP before you contacted BG to commence a switch.

They placed me on the Online Saver 22 tariff after checking online, but I don't believe any aspects of the tariff were made clear to me on the phone when registering the temporary account.

Since this is my first rented property I wasn't too sure on the order to do things. The lady on the telephone from Scottish Power didn't seem phased that I had already spoken to British Gas to commence the migration.

DirectDebacle

I moved in to my new property on 1st June 2013 and immediately called Scottish Power who were the current provider to the property. I made my intentions clear that I was not sticking with them and had already called British Gas up prior to the telephone call to start the migration process of the electricity.

On that basis SP should have placed you on their standard tariff. Clearly that would be the most suitable under the circumstances.

When I called Scottish Power, they told me nothing of a cancellation fee over the phone and this is just the most basic account whilst they transfer the supply out to British Gas. Any further letters I have received from Scottish Power do not mention a cancellation fee anywhere.

This appears to show that informing them of your intention to leave them asap was understood and you would be put on their standard tariff.

Possibly a mistake was made at their end after the initial call by putting you on a non standard tariff. If not a mistake then something more serious has occurred.

It sounds as if the switch has not yet happened. Which means you should be still be being charged for energy at the Online Saver rate and no cancellation charges should have as yet been added to your account.

From their Online Saver T&C's:

If you cancel your Online Energy Saver 22 Offer Product by switching supplier before 31st July 2014, we will apply cancellation charges. The current cancellation charges are £25.00 for electricity and £25.00 for gas, each inclusive of VAT at the current rate of 20%.

Cancellation charges should only be applied after you have left SP and are no longer supplied by them. They will appear on the final bill.

In short you have been put on the wrong tariff but should be paying less for your energy than if you had been put on the correct one.

However SP are incorrectly applying cancellation charges and prematurely putting you on their standard tariff (which you should have been on from the start). This because, according to them, you have allegedly broken the T&C's of a tariff that you never asked to be on and weren't aware you were on. Some days later you checked the online account and discovered the error.

What a mess. If you haven't made an official complaint as yet then I suggest you do asap. CC it to the CAB energy complaints section. Avoid any further telephone contact and make as accurate notes as you can re previous telephone conversations.
They may or may not have a recording of your initial call. If they do then it will hopefully clarify the situation.

macman

If you didn't specify a tariff then you should be on Standard-no ETC. If you actually agreed to go onto Online Saver 22 then it's up to you to ask the tariff terms before signing up. This tariff carries ETC's as above.

DirectDebacle

Not so sure on that one macman. I would have thought that a supplier would be obliged to fully explain the T&C's of a tariff to a customer and ensure they were understood before signing the customer up to it.

There was a recent case of someone who agreed to a mobile contract over the phone. The contract was explained but no mention of roaming charges were made. Customer went abroad and on return was presented with a bill containing £100's roaming charges. Cut it short customer went to court and claimed roaming charges were not in the contract as they weren't explained. Company claimed they were because they later sent contract in writing which included roaming charges. Judge found in favour of customer. Original contract was made over the phone. What company sent later was a different contract. Probably helped that the customer happened to be a contracts lawyer!

Long time since I took an enregy contract out over the phone so not sure how the conversations are supposed to be conducted.