Scottish Power Fined £18M

molerat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36137005

SP to pay £18M after customer service failings due to new IT system.

Ofgem said Scottish Power had improved its customer service and co-operated during the 18 month investigation.

I am sure many here will have a different view on that statement. Another sign of a broken system and weak regulator being easily hoodwinked ?

GingerBob_3

molerat wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36137005

SP to pay £18M after customer service failings due to new IT system.
I am sure many here will have a different view on that statement. Another sign of a broken system and weak regulator being easily hoodwinked ?

Quite.


SP won't give a monkeys about £18m. What they would care about is if they lost their licence to supply. What does a sh-1-t outfit like SP contribute to life in Britain? Nothing, precisely nothing! At the very least they should be banned from reporting their customers to the CRAs. Then they should be given notice that if things don't improve pronto they WILL lose their licence.


Is any of this going to happen - No. OFGEM are a pack of buffoons.

Autumnella

I really think these fines should be passed on to customers, after all it's the customers who have been failed. Like a few years back when EDF got fined so they asked to pay £1 fine and spread the remaining amount to their vulnerable customers so everyone who received the WHD got an extra £45.

backfoot

I was affected by system problems with SP as recently as November 2015, well after the investigation started. Basically all the previous gas billing history and meter reads were lost from the online system. When they replaced this with a three year bill, the calculation was wrong.

No explanation could be given as SP told me several times that no one knew why. That is worrying to say the least. They deserve the fine as they are not fit to hold a License.

savemoney

The fines according to this article is being paid to customers up to £150

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/04/26/100000-scottishpower-customers-in-line-for-compensation-after-18/

"Up to £15m of the penalty is to be paid to vulnerable ScottishPower customers that were affected by the poor service, with the remainder going to charity.


It is understood that about 100,000 customers could be in line for the compensation payments, worth up to £150 each."

[Deleted User]

But the fine will come from money given to SP by customers.

It will never be taken from the Board's remuneration pot which would be the fair thing as those on the board are 100% responsible of this mess.

And as has been pointed out, SP still mess up accounts even today and still blame the "new" IT system which is now so old it will need to be replaced soon.

savemoney

Thats a good point and I agree it should come out of owners and bosses wages. Too many times we reward for failure and companies never learn because the bosses and owners never really suffer financially.

OAP49

I had problems with Scottish Power between July 2013 and March 2014. Following a gas leak I had a new meter fitted, no record of this could be found on Scottish Power records which led to a bill of £5000 appearing on my account. They insisted that the dial on the meter had gone completely round and then back to the beginning which was why the bill was so large. I fought and won the battle but it took 9 month of weekly phone calls and a great deal of stress. I have now been told that Scottish Power will be contacting people from next month to award compensation. I cannot be the only person who has move homes in this time. I have changed fuel suppliers twice and my email address and telephone no is different. I no longer have old bills as I cleared out everything before moving. Will I, and others like me, not get any of the payment award due to us?

hybernia

ScottishPower is as Scottish as paella.

This Spanish-owned company should've had its operating licence pulled by the regulator.

As for Ofgem, it's clear that it is *not* regulating the marketplace, as is evident from the sheer number of new arrivals in this sector, none of whom -- repeat: none -- are required by Ofgem to satisfy it as to provenance, expertise, experience and resources.

If any Tom and !!!! can get into the market, then it's no surprise that when Harry goes rogue, Ofgem does nothing meaningful to stop it.

As with so much else in British life, I suspect that the blame lies with Britain's elected politicians seeing as how it is Parliament which decides how regulatory agencies should function.