Bill Shock - ScottishPower

TheDempsey

Hi All,

I wanted to share this with someone to understand if this has happened to anyone else and how they dealt with it.

In a nut shell, I have lived in my property for 9 years, a 1 bedroomed single floor flat, I moved to Scottish Power(SP) in 2011, they did some readings and set my monthly bill at around £25-£30, this was cheaper than i was paying previously but as I have no heating (it's a top floor flat, was always hot enough) I thought that seemed fair. Skip 5 years later, having spent 2 of those 5 years not living at the property, I'm landed with a bill of £5000 and a DD came out at £426 for one month. It turns out the last 5 years have all been done on estimations, I don't have access to my meter in the block of flats so i can't give readings, and never have done, I have since been able to get in due to a broken lock on one of the doors and can see what a mess the meters are in, in terms of numbered incorrectly, mine has the incorrect flat number on it but I did a burns test and established it was indeed mine. I did some calculations over the phone with SP and it worked out I would have been underpaying by £100 a month if the readings were correct, that just does not seem right to me for a 1 bedroomed property, single floor, no heating, so i questioned it. They agreed (I have this as a telephone recording) to take a weeks worth of usage (I gave them 2 readings) to recalculate my bill and retrospectively work it backwards to come up with a figure. I heard nothing for 6 weeks, they took the £426 out again which they said wouldn't happen and I ended up back on the phone speaking to a different agent who said there were no notes on the account, rinse and repeat process of explaining, in the end I sent in pictures of meters, took readings, did everything they said, but now their response is I have to pay it there is nothing wrong with the meter (it has been an open complaint for 5 weeks). My questions are, should they have read the meter within the 5 years, isn't it their responsibility to do so? Am I still liable if it is correct? If it isn't correct and I can prove it by having an electircian to prove how much power I am using from within the flat, is it a court jobby? Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Thanks,

M

Smodlet

Hello and welcome.

If you have been billed inaccurately because the meter has not been read, your supplier should obtain a meter reading at least once every two years. If you/meter readers have been physically prevented from accessing your meter, you should take it up with the landlord/management co./whoever owns the flats.

Have you tried asking for transcripts of all the calls you have made to SSE? If this has been an open complaint for more than 28 days you are entitled to take it to Ofgem and I would seriously recommend telling SSE you will do so if they do not resolve this to your satisfaction. They have targets to meet and Ofgem complaints are a black mark against them.

Hope this helps and please, let us know how you get on.

molerat

Yes they should have read the meter but if they were being prevented from accessing it the only option open to them would be to obtain a court warrant at your expense. You should have compared the estimates to actual readings so there is fault on both sides here. Is the meter being billed your meter ? If it is then the only real option is for a test meter to be fitted which will be charged to you if the meter proves accurate.

D_M_E

Have you checked that the meter serial number on your bill matches the serial number on the meter which you think is yours?

Also, while you can still access the meters, I suggest you take photos of the actual meters showing, if possible, the serial number and reading(s) of each meter then compare those to the meter serial number given on your bill.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.




Without being unkind you brush over the fact that you were paying more than £25-£30 monthly before you moved to Scottish Power(SP) in 2011 and that prices rose considerably in the period after 2011. Unless you had correspondence with SP you would have been placed on their most expensive Standard tariff.


Even without heating(presumably you heat hot water for washing etc?) £25-£30 monthly is not realistic for an all electric flat; and underpaying by £100 a month seems entirely reasonable. Given that you haven't once in 5 years bothered to check or challenge an estimated meter reading, IMO SP are correct that you owe them the £5,000.


However given that some blame can be attributed to SP for not insisting on reading the meter, and given that energy companies are Public Enemy Number 1, if you make a big enough fuss you will get a big reduction.

[Deleted User]

Smodlet wrote: »

Hello and welcome.

If you have been billed inaccurately because the meter has not been read, your supplier should obtain a meter reading at least once every two years. If you/meter readers have been physically prevented from accessing your meter, you should take it up with the landlord/management co./whoever owns the flats.

Have you tried asking for transcripts of all the calls you have made to SSE? If this has been an open complaint for more than 28 days you are entitled to take it to Ofgem and I would seriously recommend telling SSE you will do so if they do not resolve this to your satisfaction. They have targets to meet and Ofgem complaints are a black mark against them.

Hope this helps and please, let us know how you get on.

I think the wording about 2 yearly readings is "the supplier should ATTEMPT to read the meter " That is how these suppliers keep their costs down by taking no notice of OFGEM and their rules and why Scot Power and EDF, who I work for, can go years and years and never check a meter in 10 years. They hardly ever do 2 yearly "must inspect "readings unlike BG who are much better than the French and Spanish suppliers at complying with OFGEM edicts in this respect.
Thats fine for EDF and Scot Power to ignore this 2 year rule, they dont spend money on warrants of entry or sending meter readers out of hours but when the occupier is bypassing the meters or there are other faults its downright dangerous.
Of course the answer to these suppliers who work on the cheap and laugh at OFGEM is smart meters

Smodlet

Absolutely, hence the italics... too subtle?

[Deleted User]

Smodlet wrote: »

Absolutely, hence the italics... too subtle?

No, not too subtle, but the word "attempt " covers a supplier . They can just say, (pretend ) we knocked on the occupiers door at the 2 year mark and tried to gain entry but failed .Hence the OP gets to a ridiculous 5 years and no one has examined the meter and OFGEM are not really bothered neither. I`ve complained to them a few times over the years outlining how these suppliers get away with it. They will continue to ignore the rules because there is no one to stop them.

footyguy

TheDempsey wrote: »

Hi All,

I wanted to share this with someone to understand if this has happened to anyone else and how they dealt with it.

In a nut shell, I have lived in my property for 9 years, a 1 bedroomed single floor flat, I moved to Scottish Power(SP) in 2011, they did some readings and set my monthly bill at around £25-£30, this was cheaper than i was paying previously but as I have no heating (it's a top floor flat, was always hot enough) I thought that seemed fair. Skip 5 years later, having spent 2 of those 5 years not living at the property, I'm landed with a bill of £5000 and a DD came out at £426 for one month. It turns out the last 5 years have all been done on estimations, I don't have access to my meter in the block of flats so i can't give readings, and never have done, I have since been able to get in due to a broken lock on one of the doors and can see what a mess the meters are in, in terms of numbered incorrectly, mine has the incorrect flat number on it but I did a burns test and established it was indeed mine. I did some calculations over the phone with SP and it worked out I would have been underpaying by £100 a month if the readings were correct, that just does not seem right to me for a 1 bedroomed property, single floor, no heating, so i questioned it. They agreed (I have this as a telephone recording) to take a weeks worth of usage (I gave them 2 readings) to recalculate my bill and retrospectively work it backwards to come up with a figure. I heard nothing for 6 weeks, they took the £426 out again which they said wouldn't happen and I ended up back on the phone speaking to a different agent who said there were no notes on the account, rinse and repeat process of explaining, in the end I sent in pictures of meters, took readings, did everything they said, but now their response is I have to pay it there is nothing wrong with the meter (it has been an open complaint for 5 weeks). My questions are, should they have read the meter within the 5 years, isn't it their responsibility to do so? Am I still liable if it is correct? If it isn't correct and I can prove it by having an electircian to prove how much power I am using from within the flat, is it a court jobby? Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Thanks,

M

In answer to your questions, it is your responsibility to allow access to the meter (which by your own admission you were not in a position to do, so perhaps best not to go there ). Yes you do have to pay for what you have consumed. Litigation should only ever be considered as a matter of last resort. How about following the supplier's complaint procedure first, if a simple phone call doesn't resolve matters? :cool:

Smodlet

Note taken, Sacsquacco.

dogshome

Questions
Is it a 'Standard' meter or an 'ECO7' for cheap power overnight ?
How is the Hot Water heated?
What was the monthly D/Debit paid to the supplier before Scot Power?
What tariff are you on? ( No economical 'Fixed' tariff lasts for 5 years )
How was the burns test conducted?
The best way is to turn off everything in the flat, then whilst you watch what should be a dead meter, have a mate with a mobile phone in the flat switch the kettle On & Off to your orders, the meter should show activity in synch. with the kettle switching

The debt and what you have paid over 5 years gives an Annual figure of appx. £1300
Quite possible in some all electric flats, not a one bed that truly does not use any heating