Empty flat incurring 'standing charge' from Scottish Power

[Deleted User]

My Mum owned her own flat and always paid her electricity bill on time. Unfortunately towards the end of her life she suffered with dementia, and was admitted to a nursing home prior to her death in 2011.
I have only just managed to find a buyer for her flat ... so, in other words, her flat has been empty & uninhabited for several years. So I was shocked when a bill for £69.20 arrived from Scottish Power.
Apparently this bill is for 'standing charges' which have accumulated over the years ... despite the fact that no electricity at all has been used!


Presumably they are allowed to make these charges ... but I would just like to say that I consider it to be disgustingly greedy.

spiro

Because consumers found 2 tier tariffs too confusing they now have to have standing charge plus single unit price tariffs only. If the is only for £69 I suspect that's less than a years SC. Remember the bill should be paid out of the estate. Did you advise SP of the death?

dogshome

Energy Co's used to be able to charge the 'Standing Charge' in one of two ways:
1) As a No Standing Charge tariff that collected the Standing Charge by chargeing a fixed number of Kwh per annum at a higher price.
2) A fixed daily charge on top of the Kwh consumed.

Ofgem the regulator decided that simplify bills, all tariffs offered should only be on the 'Fixed Daily Charge' basis - Over the months since that decision all suppliers with customers who were on an NSC tariff , have changed the billing to a Daily Standing Charge tariff

As the Daily Standing Charge totals to roughly, depending on the supplier, £120 a year, it seems your mother was on an NSC tariff and the supplier made the enforced change about 6 months ago

Cardew

ZED wrote: »

Presumably they are allowed to make these charges ... but I would just like to say that I consider it to be disgustingly greedy.

All bills are compiled and handled by 'The Computer'.


Unfortunately(or perhaps fortunately) computer technology has not yet progressed to the point where it can know that your mother was not well and was in hospital.


You say no electricity was used? The estate agents, prospective buyers etc never switched on lights when they looked around? Was the flat not cleaned in the several years since your mother was admitted to hospital?


What about water charges? Telephone? Council Tax? Building service charges?


'Disgustingly greedy'? Not IMO the most sensible comment!


P.S.
Given this thread that you started, why are you concerned about the electricity bill?


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/50878075#Comment_50878075

macman

Some practical advice-switch to a NSC tariff until the property is sold (Ebico being the obvious one).
Why greedy? There is still a cost of billing, metering and maintaining the supply, regardless of usage.
The clue is in the name 'standing charges'...

Pagett

ZED wrote: »

My Mum owned her own flat and always paid her electricity bill on time. Unfortunately towards the end of her life she suffered with dementia, and was admitted to a nursing home prior to her death in 2011.
I have only just managed to find a buyer for her flat ... so, in other words, her flat has been empty & uninhabited for several years. So I was shocked when a bill for £69.20 arrived from Scottish Power.
Apparently this bill is for 'standing charges' which have accumulated over the years ... despite the fact that no electricity at all has been used!


Presumably they are allowed to make these charges ... but I would just like to say that I consider it to be disgustingly greedy.

Only £69.20 since 2011?

You probably got off lightly. Some suppliers charge almost £150 per year per fuel! :eek:

Always keep a frequent check on the best deal for you, especially if circumstances change meaning a significant change to consumption.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

[Deleted User]

Nada666 wrote: »

So despite your mother suffering dementia and despite being admitted to a nursing home you have only bothered now to see if you there was anything to do to help and that her affairs were in order. And it is Scottish Power who were behaving in a disgusting fashion?

A strange take.

Plus, of course, £69 is only a few months standing charge, not years. I have no idea why you are upset.

WOW! How unpleasant are YOU? You've jumped to a heck of a lot of inaccurate conclusions: (NB: I will be reporting your abusive post to the moderators ... you claim that I've behaved in a disgusting fashion: in what way?)

I'm sure you'll be delighted to know that you've upset me enormously ... For your information, I was treated for depression as a result of Mum's illness and then her death. Mum and I were exceptionally close, and her final years were dreadful. In fact I'm still taking the anti-depression medication that I was prescribed; and I have only recently stopped attending counselling sessions.

Why do you assume that I didn't help to sort out her affairs? I was sorting things out for her even long before the dementia took hold, and I continued to do so when she became ill. All her bills were paid on time. When she went into the Home her electric account was at £0. (Actually no, it was 0.26p in credit!)

That situation remained for the next few bills until the December 2012-June 2013 bill which was for £22.51. I figured that it would be for the electricity I'd used when I cleaned the carpets throughout the flat etc. in order to make it ready to sell. (Although the amount did seem a bit steep for the amount of work done ... which was completed in just one day).

Then I got the bill for £69.20 (December 2013 - March 2014).

In fact I found out this morning that Mum's estate is in negative equity (her flat was mortgaged) so there won't be sufficient funds to pay the standing charge anyway.

[Deleted User]

spiro wrote: »

Because consumers found 2 tier tariffs too confusing they now have to have standing charge plus single unit price tariffs only. If the is only for £69 I suspect that's less than a years SC. Remember the bill should be paid out of the estate. Did you advise SP of the death?

Thanks for your comment spiro.
Yes, I advised them of Mum's admission to the nursing home, and then I advised them that she had passed away. I had no idea that there would be a standing charge for an empty property where no electricity was being used.
The charge does seem to be a bit 'random' though ... Mum's gas supplier was British Gas, and when I provided them with the same information about Mum's circumstances they stopped making a 'standing charge'. I guess that's why I was so surprised by Scottish Power's bill for the standing charge.

[Deleted User]

Pagett wrote: »

Only £69.20 since 2011?

You probably got off lightly. Some suppliers charge almost £150 per year per fuel! :eek:

Always keep a frequent check on the best deal for you, especially if circumstances change meaning a significant change to consumption.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

... and some don't make a standing charge at all!

[Deleted User]

Cardew wrote: »

All bills are compiled and handled by 'The Computer'.


Unfortunately(or perhaps fortunately) computer technology has not yet progressed to the point where it can know that your mother was not well and was in hospital.


You say no electricity was used? The estate agents, prospective buyers etc never switched on lights when they looked around? Was the flat not cleaned in the several years since your mother was admitted to hospital?


What about water charges? Telephone? Council Tax? Building service charges?


'Disgustingly greedy'? Not IMO the most sensible comment!


P.S.
Given this thread that you started, why are you concerned about the electricity bill?


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/50878075#Comment_50878075

I hired a carpet cleaner and cleaned the carpets. I took the curtains home and laundered them at my own place.
On the 4th floor of a block of retirement flats with the windows and doors all kept closed, how would the place get dirty? I dusted the window sills from time-to-time, and flushed the toilet to prevent the water from becoming stagnant ... but as the flat is completely devoid of furniture there's no cleaning required really!

Water charges are included in the service charge. Telephone bill was paid up-to-date and then the account closed. Council tax has been paid up-to-date. (Why do you want to know about these other bills?)

Only 6 people viewed the flat, and the viewings took place during daylight hours.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

ZED wrote: »

... and some don't make a standing charge at all!

But the unit rates are eye watering, utilita charging gas at 8p/KWh, ebico 17p/KWh elec.

These businesses have fixed costs that they need to recoup. Most choose to do it with a standing charge.

If OFGEM finally pull their finger out we should have a situation with a mandatory standing charge, say £100 a year, so to compare prices all one would need to do is look at the unit rate, similar to petrol. This wouldn't help people in your situation, though.