ScottishPower deliberately and systematically misbilling final bills?

Holepunch

I feel on top of this, so am not asking for advice - I'm just curious if my experience is replicated elsewhere at all, as I get the impression that what I have seen when closing my account down is no accident and was a deliberate policy to misbill (and I don't necessarily believe it was an attempt to overbill, though it was in my case, more I get the impression it was a deliberate attempt to misbill to simplify or fit in with their systems).
I'd therefore be really interested if anyone who has recently had a final bill from Scottish Power has this situation replicated or if their experience was different.

So some details:

• My monthly direct debit is £48.25.
• My account balance prior to the final bill was £18.27 in credit.
• I provide meter readings on 1st of every month. (so billing should be reasonably accurate).
• The house is in the process of being sold and will be standing empty for a short while prior to completion. I notified Scottish Power that the house would be empty from 30th July and gave them a final meter reading of 15,927 kWh.
• Scottish Power issued me with a final bill. They ignored my final meter reading and instead estimated my reading as 16,302 kWh. This came in at a final bill of £66.52, which after the credit on the account of £18.27 is deducted left a final payment of £48.25. This matches my monthly direct debit amount, so it seems clear to me that the meter reading was deliberately massaged to leave my final direct debit payment to be exactly the same as usual.
• I notified Scottish Power that the meter reading was incorrect and therefore the final bill was incorrect and I therefore requested that they issue a correct final bill. I explained that if they withdrew £48.25 from my account, then as it was clearly wrong, I would exercise my rights under the direct debit guarantee and request a refund.
• Initially Scottish Power did not want to change the bill, saying that they would change the details with the new electric provider and they would give me a refund! I didn't accept this, apart from anything else, explaining that the house was being sold and there would be no new provider to refund me. Scottish Power replied on 13th August and said that they would use my meter reading and issue a correct bill within 35 days.
• Scottish Power took the £48.25 from my account on 27th August which I immediately got my bank to refund. I chased up with Scottish Power. They replied on 3rd September, apologising and informing me that they would issue a correct final bill, with the correct meter reading, within 35 days.
• I received an amended bill from Scottish Power, dated 10th September. This used my final meter reading of 15,927, and the correct dates (in line with the original bill), and showed a reduced cost of electricity in the final period, yet the final payment being requested was ............ £48.25!! Exactly the same amount as was requested when they used a meter reading for usage of an extra 350 kWh usage.
• The way they appear to have massaged the bill to arrive at the higher amount can be found under the "Payments Received" list where a "refund" has been added on 5th September for £37.90. The only reason for this "Refund" (charge) I can see is to adjust the bill to get it to read £48.25 due.
• I have sent a breakdown to Scottish Power of what I believe the final bill should be - which comes out at £10.36 (which is within a penny of being the difference between the £48.25 and the "Refund" of £37.90)

I can't imagine why Scottish Power are desperate to keep my final bill at £48.25, but they seem determined to keep it at that, regardless of electricity consumed.

Anyone else had a final bill from Scottish Power lately? Is it just me, or is this just what they do?

Holepunch

Just an update - Scottish Power are standing their ground on this.

Doubts from my side naturally start to creep in, but I've double checked it and remain confident they are getting it wrong (apart from anything else, to charge me the same amount on a bill with substantially lower usage, must be wrong mustn't it?). I do hope I'm not overlooking something stupid!

This is the reply they sent me:

Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your Electricity account under account reference *************.

Your final bill is for the period from 1 June to 30 July 2013.

This statement showed a starting credit balance of £19.63 which was a total of £87.73 balance on your previous statement total payments received in the bill period of £68.10. The energy costs from 1 June to 30 July 2013 were £28.62 which makes your current balance is £48.25 in debit.

The "starting credit balance of £19.63" is actually a debt of £19.63. This compares with the bill with the incorrect meter reading which showed an opening balance of £18.27 in credit. The difference between these opening balances is £37.90, which exactly matches the adjustment they made to my account on 5th September, but for which they have still offered no explanation.

My response to them has asked (again) for an explanation of why they adjusted my account by £37.90. I've also asked them to make this a formal complaint and to issue me with a complaint reference number - with a view to getting this referred to to the energy ombudsman if they keep failing to see their error.

I am starting to think that this is maybe not the "systematic" error I originally thought it was - given no other reports on here of similar experiences and given their failure to see what they have done, I'm starting to think that they are more incompetent than anything.

One question I do have - will an ongoing dispute (unpaid bill) have any effect of the sale of my house, or the new owners ability to set up their own electric supply? Would I be better paying the bill, as provided by Scottish Power whilst continuing my dispute with them - it is after all, a relatively small amount.

Nada666

One thing to check is if this is due to a two-tier tariff. Were you on a two-tier tariff? Have you checked if a recalculation based on different dates has caused more units to be charged at tier 1 prices?

Holepunch

Hi - yes I am on a two tier tariff (not economy 7 - as in first 147 kWh (for these 2 months) charged at 17.831p and rest charged at 9.624p). All calculations (including my belief as to the correct bill) show usage greater than 147 kWh.

Holepunch

I've had another response from Scottish Power and they still stand by their bill. Having read their response I still stand by me rejection of their figures.

A copy of their response and my reply to it are below.

ScottishPower wrote:

Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your account under account reference***********

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this matter may have caused. This was never our intention and I have therefore raised a formal complaint on your behalf, reference: *******

I have looked at your final balance. On the latest statement there was a balance from the previous statement dated the 01/06/2013 of £87.73 in debit which was carried over to this statement

We then received from the 01/06/2013 to 31/07/2013 payments of £63.10 this left your account of the 31/07/2013 with a debit of £19.63

At this point we have not added the usage used from the 01/06/2013 to 31/07/2013

When the usage for that period of £28.90 is then added to the debit of £19.63 the account is then in debit of £48.53

With the VAT added and the discount taken away this leaves your account in debit of £48.25 on the 31/07/2013

The previous statement issued on the 03/09/2013 shows a payment made to your account of £48.25 a refund had been issued on the 04/09/2013 for the credit which was showing on that date

As an indemnity claim was then raised for the £48.25 the account was then in a put into a debit position as the £48.25 was returned to your bank account .

I trust the above is in order. If you require any further information in this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us

MyReply wrote:

Thank you for your response, however I still dispute your figures and you have not answered the question I have now asked twice, and have to ask for a third time! Please escalate my complaint to Level 3, the senior management team.

Specifically: On the 5th September2013 you list under "Payments Received" a "refund" of £37.90 (i.e. an increase in what I owe of £37.90). I have no knowledge of this payment refund and dispute it. This is the 3rd time I have asked why you have made this charge and so far I have received no specific response to my specific question.

In relation to your most recent reply, my response to the points you raise is as follows:
The opening balance of £87.73 in debit that you refer to, I agree with.
The £63.10 payments that you refer to is I presume a typo from you and you really mean £68.10. Assuming the figure is £68.10, then I dispute this figure as it includes the arbitrary payment refund you added to the account of £37.90 that you have so far not been able to explain. Without this payment refund, then the total payments are £106.00 (calculated as -£53-£53-£48.25+£48.25). This leaves the account in credit by £18.27. This difference of £37.90 then obviously carries through the rest of your calculations.

ihateyes

Do SP charge a standing charge?
If they do, you would still be liable for this up to the point you move.

Energy companies are hard to understand

Holepunch

No - they charge (on my current tariff) an extra 8.207p per unit for the first 70 (ish) units per month - so I just view that as a standing charge of about £5.75 per month (from the perspective of evaluating cost/comparing tariffs) and a variable cost for electricity on all my usage at 9.624p per unit.

The house is currently standing empty and no electricity supply is required and Scottish Power seem to have accepted that electric supply terminated on 30th July. However even if they were charging some kind of fee, it couldn't be £37.90. (from the perspective of costing £5.75 per month)

I remain convinced that the £37.90 fee was added solely for the purpose of keeping the final bill the same, at £48.25.