Economy7 + Scottish Power Abuse

Devilish_Accord

Warning to Economy7 users on Scottish Power, please check your meter readings and billing!

I have a recurring problem with Scottish Power where, for reasons unknown, they keep switch my Day & Night meter readings around, causing me to be charged too much. This issue has been ongoing for a considerable amount of time, but now enough is enough.

Here is a quick synopsis of Scottish Power's idiocy.

• Jun 2005 my old dial meter was replaced with a digital one. Being a monthly direct debit payer I never thought anything would (or could) be wrong, so basically ignored the quarterly paper billing, but did make a mental note of monthly payments. It all seemed fine, my bad.
  
• Sep 2009 I get an unexpected refund of almost £500. I should have investigated why, but did nothing. My bad again.
  
• Aug 2011 came around and I was worried about the price hikes, so checked my last bill. Cutting a long story short, I discovered that some of my readings had been manipulated by someone at Scottish Power (I got a £300 refund for that). Then I discovered that since the meter change in 2005, my day & night readings had been switched around. I was astounded, as you would be. That got me a refund of just over £2,000.
  
• Dec 2011 they switched the meter readings around again, not once but twice!
  
• Jun 2013 my meter is replaced again as it broke after a local power outage. Scottish Power completely mucked up the account page and then after they fixed that, my day & night readings are yet again switched around.
  
• Dec 2013 the meter reader comes again and I allow him to take the readings. I knew what would happen and I was right. I logged on again 15th and the readings were totally wrong again. Apparently it was fixed, and I entered readings into a correct page after raising merry hell with them. I come back to check again on 26th and 27th and the page was not available. Logging on today, 28th December and the readings are once more the wrong way around. I am now awaiting yet another fix.

How can they keep making the same mistake over and over again? It is totally irresponsible of this company to keep doing the same thing, and quite obviously the system they have in place is flawed by allowing employees to manipulate a user account in such a way.

I urge all Economy7 users at Scottish Power to check their meter readings to ensure they are being billed correctly. If I am but one person suffering from such an obvious flaw in the Scottish Power system, then there must be many hundreds, or thousands, suffering the same thing.

I am sending all the info to BBC Watchdog for their collective information, and also raising the issues with the Energy Ombudsman. Do I expect anything to come of it? No I do not. As far as I can see, the Energy Ombudsman will not care one bit because each 'incident' has been resolved within the 8 week period. Seems like a closed shop to me, leaving consumers with no legal tools to stop it happening.

What have I learned from all this?

1. Trust nobody and assume you are being ripped off.
2. Understand the meter, which reading relates to day and night.
3. Check that meter readings tally with billing and online account page.
4. Take meter readings on a regular basis, feeding the online account too.
5. Switch as soon as possible from a company that abuses your custom.

The only reason I caught Scottish Power ripping me off in the first place was by entering all my historical meter readings into a spreadsheet and converting to a day/night usage graph. I am so glad I kept all the old bills, without them it would have been difficult to spot.

If this post helps just ONE Scottish Power customer from being ripped off, I'll be a very happy bunny.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to MSE's Cheap Energy Club I have found a cheaper supplier (Ovo Energy) and am at last switching. I can not wait to be an ex-Scottish Power customer, for me they are utter rubbish.

Cheers all.

Be_Happy

I'm having trouble following all this. Surely it is all entirely due to your not checking bills and not checking any refunds received.


You say you 'logged on', so you must have access to your account on-line. Have you been sending in regular meter readings. If you had, the box where you enter readings always shows the previous reading so you can follow on from this. SP also send an e-mail confirming the readings you have sent in.


I did have a problem when I switched to SP in that their on-line boxes for meter readings were numbered the wrong way round for my meter. This was obvious and I e-mailed them to explain. They asked me to check the meter readings for one day and send them the 9am reading and the 5pm reading to show which reading was 'active' during the day.


After this the on-line reading boxes were adjusted and I've never had a problem.

Devilish_Accord

Thank you Be Happy,

Be_Happy wrote: »

I'm having trouble following all this.

I was hoping it would be clear. They keep switching my day & night readings around the wrong way. This causes them to overcharge.

Be_Happy wrote: »

Surely it is all entirely due to your not checking bills and not checking any refunds received.

Yes, entirely because I never checked. Once I did (August 2011) I could see the problem, and I've had issues ever since. Maybe someone at Scottish Power does not like the fact I got a refund of 2 grand!

Be_Happy wrote: »

You say you 'logged on', so you must have access to your account on-line. Have you been sending in regular meter readings.

I had never signed up for the online part of the account until August 2011. Since then I take daily meter readings and feed their database every few days. This is how I catch them inverting the readings.

Be_Happy wrote: »

If you had, the box where you enter readings always shows the previous reading so you can follow on from this. SP also send an e-mail confirming the readings you have sent in.

Yes, but when they switch the readings around they display my DAY readings as NIGHT and NIGHT readings as DAY. That's what they keep doing wrong.

Be_Happy wrote: »

I did have a problem when I switched to SP in that their on-line boxes for meter readings were numbered the wrong way round for my meter. This was obvious and I e-mailed them to explain. They asked me to check the meter readings for one day and send them the 9am reading and the 5pm reading to show which reading was 'active' during the day.

I have also done this in August 2011 to confirm the 'active' readings for them. Unlike you they switch them around again.

Be_Happy wrote: »

After this the on-line reading boxes were adjusted and I've never had a problem.

That's good. Glad you are not having problems after they fixed it.

[Deleted User]

When meter readers and suppliers reverse or twist the rates its only the very few night storage users who end up being billed higher, usually. all the the others will get their expensive day rates billed as night, they keep quiet then