Day and night electricity meter mixed up

greatgazza

So.... as I was on the phone to scottish power yesterday to get my annual consumption so i could use MSE's big winter switch it transpires that my day and night rates might be mixed up. Stupidly I thought this might mean I was owed money but googling today I realise it's the other way round. I've switched providers a few times over the last few years and none of the companies have picked up on this. So.... should I call them, get it sorted and refuse to pay any money they say I owe (with this being no fault of my own) or...should I just continue to switch (as i was in process of last night) and then flag it up to get the new provider to sort it out once the switch is complete?

Bit concerned at the moment as I'm a single mum and don't have the funds to pay retrospective charges. Help!!

SoletraderSteve

I would imagine they are in the process of correcting your bills so don't be suprised if you receive an emended bill from them. If you call them explain to them hat you accept they are the wrong way around and do need correcting and that you are prepared to pay for what you have used however if you raise a complaint they may apply some goodwill payment to your bill and should also allow you to pay the difference in instalments that ae affordable for you.

Andy_WSM

greatgazza wrote: »

So.... should I call them, get it sorted and refuse to pay any money they say I owe

No, you should call them, get it sorted and agree to pay what you owe over a period of time (minus any good will gesture).

You've used it, so it has to be paid for, just like the rest of us. They are legally allowed to collect a debt for 7 years, however, the back billing rule may be your friend here so they might only be able to bill you for the difference in the last 12 months.

footyguy

greatgazza wrote: »

So.... as I was on the phone to scottish power yesterday to get my annual consumption so i could use MSE's big winter switch it transpires that my day and night rates might be mixed up. Stupidly I thought this might mean I was owed money but googling today I realise it's the other way round. I've switched providers a few times over the last few years and none of the companies have picked up on this. So.... should I call them, get it sorted and refuse to pay any money they say I owe (with this being no fault of my own) or...should I just continue to switch (as i was in process of last night) and then flag it up to get the new provider to sort it out once the switch is complete?

Bit concerned at the moment as I'm a single mum and don't have the funds to pay retrospective charges. Help!!

First thing to do is verify for yourself if any transposition of registries hasoccurred.

If it has, then you need to realise that on switching supplier, the outgoing supplier will create a final bill and will expect that to be paid immediately in full. (It's sometimes possible to request and agree a period to pay over, but they won't wait too long - perhaps split monthly over 3 months is the best you could hope for)

If you stay with the same supplier they will be much more lenient in allowing you time to repay any debt - typically over the period it accrued (although some may limit this to say 12 months)

You need to balance out the possible savings from switching supplier/tariff compared to the amount you may owe.
Could you, for example, borrow the money to repay the debt if you do opt to switch to a lower priced supplier?
If not, are you on the best tariff with SP for you?

Remember, if your registries have been transposed, then any comparison you have done with those resultant incoorebt usage figures will give you misleading information, and that goes not only for any SP tariff, but any other supplier's tariff too.

charley123

I've recently suffered this problem with Scottish Power:mad:

Seems they switched internal systems a while back which mixed the meter readings round.

I spotted it about 6 months ago whilst submitting my meter readings online. SP were next to useless in sorting the mess out and had to contact the Energy Ombudsman as i was so annoyed. This was also a well known issue within SP.

matter has been resolved now....well still haven't had an written apology, £75 compo or payment plan set up if i needed due to their error as suggested by EO.


Due to SP knowing about this error they should at least offer you a repayment plan.

I will be switching from SP asap... they got two weeks to do the above or i will be contacting EO again:)

greatgazza

can you not switch from SP until they have sorted it out then?

and have they told you you'll be getting £75 compo? are they not charging you for the undercharge?

You've used it, so it has to be paid for, just like the rest of us.

' Andy I thought I DO pay my bills, and I thought I WAS paying the right amount. So if it happened to you, you wouldn't hope that something like this went unnoticed then? I think you would. It's their error and I am going to struggle because of it. Not my fault a huge corporation can't run itself properly. Thanks for your reply though.

Andy_WSM

greatgazza wrote: »

' Andy I thought I DO pay my bills, and I thought I WAS paying the right amount. So if it happened to you, you wouldn't hope that something like this went unnoticed then? I think you would. It's their error and I am going to struggle because of it. Not my fault a huge corporation can't run itself properly. Thanks for your reply though.

No, I haven't got a dishonest bone in my body.

If a shop keeper gave me too much change, I'd tell them and hand it back.

It's no different to that. It's unfortunate you will struggle, but I do too, so I sympathise, but I still pay my dues.

greatgazza

well it is a little different. a shopkeeper might lose his livelihood if every customer kept any extra change he gave them by mistake. a multi national who made £712 million profit and then hiked its prices by 7% isn't really in the same league. Have to say I empathise with the former, can't really say the same for the latter. If they've got so much money why can't they run things correctly? Their tough luck if you ask me.

lstar337

greatgazza wrote: »

a shopkeeper might lose his livelihood if every customer kept any extra change he gave them by mistake.

Not to be cruel, but shouldn't he?

If I went in to work every day and made critical mistakes like that I would be fired.

greatgazza

yes i see what you're saying. i just have more sympathy for the small independent shopkeeper than i do for a huge multinational

greatgazza

and in a way that backs up my earlier comments that really it's tough s**t on SP that they have undercharged me and why should I pay it back because a company that makes such humongous profits should at least be able to run itself properly.