Legal advice on Pre-paid meter debt caused by Scottish Power

Rebeckah11

My sister has a Scottish Power pre-paid electricity meter (we do not have gas around here), which has been at the property since they purchased (on mortgage) it some 10 years ago. She tops up, via the key, roughly once a month and has never been in debt.

A couple of months ago she received a bill from Scottish Power stating she owed nearly £1000, although the paperwork did not provide any payment details. She contacted Scottish Power and was advised by a representative that there was a problem with her account, but not for her to worry. The bill had been printed and sent automatically by the person looking at her account, however as her pre-paid meter did not show any amount owing this was correct and not the bill. The representative advised just to ignore the bill. (We have a recording of this telephone conversation).

A few weeks ago a Scottish Power representative came to read her meter, but didn't seem to do anything else.

Earlier this week my sister received another bill. This time it showed £1500 owing, actual meter readings, but still did not provide any payment details.

Today she has received a demand for £1300 from Scottish Power and understandably is extremely upset.

I've looked at all the paperwork, meter etc, and it appear my sister has been paying at a very low tariff for the last few years, thus building up this massive debt. However it's a pre-paid meter that's regularly topped up at the local store and therefore tariff increases should be put on the key automatically. It is not one of the older style pre-paid meters that required someone to come out and change the tariff manually.

Whilst my sister owes this money due to the low tariff she was on, surely the onus is on Scottish Power to ensure the correct tariff is in place.

Does anyone know what legal standing my sister has to reject this huge bill?

molerat

She needs to write a letter headed COMPLAINT laying out her concerns and what she expects SP to do about it. They have 8 weeks to reach a resolution after which she can take the complaint to the ombudsman.

dogshome

Certainly write a Complaint letter - It should demand exact detail of what tariff or tariffs should have been applied, the dates that they covered and the gross amount due for each period.

Also advise them that the 'Back Billing Agreement' should be applied to this demand, and your sister is only liable any additional tariff costs that have been incurred over the last 12 months, and that 12 months is counted back from the day they do produce a fully detailed bill

[Deleted User]

Your sister can see the actual tariff shes been paying on the meter. I can t remember which screen its on but its on the first few screens and the key is nt needed to be inserted to see the tariff. That is an odd complaint because its all supposed to be updated automatically and has been for many years since the old card meters were discontinued in around 2004.
I have seen this in the past though but the meter had been bypassed and no one was crediting the meter for years and years and was still on a very low tariff.

Rebeckah11

Thanks for all the advice. It does seem odd and I can't get my head around it.

It appears SP put a new meter in back in March 2013 (still pre-paid), but the bill go back to October 2013, which doesn't make sense - unless there was no tariff rate increase from March to October 2013. I have noticed the rate per kWh displayed on her meter is low, but am reluctant to mentioned this to SP in case they just dismiss my sisters complaint - I want them to tell her what is wrong and why they have suddenly produced this huge debt on a pre-paid meter!

Just wondering if this argument works (if we need it): According to the government website, suppliers have a legal obligation to inspect and read meter(s) at least once every 2 years, which SP don't appear to have done as this should have highlighted any issues a year ago and then if the 'Back Billing Agreement' is applies to that last 12 months (from the date a fully details bill is produced), it would mean they cannot make my sister pay anything.