Scottish Power Billing Query

stevegrass777

The energy billing code says the can't back bill for anything over 12 months,also it mentions accurate bills.
http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/customers/energy-industry-codes/code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills.html
SP are nearly as bad as npower.

SammenForLivet2

Edit: From the sounds of it, it is not the transfer readings but open readings that are the problem.

Would suggest the OP to see if they have the home moves document - if not, I guess SP will need to base on EAC from move in date - transfer to BG date.

If the OP can't provide an actual read for move in, and SP have no record of it, be interesting to see what happens.

Cardew

stevegrass777 wrote: »

The energy billing code says the can't back bill for anything over 12 months,also it mentions accurate bills.
http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/customers/energy-industry-codes/code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills.html
SP are nearly as bad as npower.

They are not back-billing over 12 months. They did raise a bill and in any case there is the caveat that back billing only applies if the company were at fault.

The dispute is about the accuracy of that bill, which as the OP acknowledges could possibly be the fault of the OP, or more probably the fault of SP.

They claim the bill has been generated by their audit team, who believe no meter readings were provided at the time of my switch. Unfortunately I cannot prove that meter readings were in fact provided


I'm fairly certain that opening readings were provided to Scottish power. I'm aware fairly certain isn't really good enough in circumstances like this though so know this could cause me an issue.

That is the issue that needs resolving.

stevegrass777

As far as I am aware they have to supply an accurate bill not just a bill within 12 months,and when you change suppliers the new suppliers have so many days to do a manual read of the meter,I think it is around one month so maybe 30 days.
Either way the cowboy suppliers (npower and Scottish power in my experience) both play fast and loose with the rules,and often don't abide by the energy billing code,but what you to cough up for there failings.

Cardew

stevegrass777 wrote: »

As far as I am aware they have to supply an accurate bill not just a bill within 12 months,and when you change suppliers the new suppliers have so many days to do a manual read of the meter,I think it is around one month so maybe 30 days.

Have you a source for that information?

What would be the point of the losing supplier going to the property* 30days after the occupier had given his reading to the gaining supplier. They could hardly dispute the 30 day old reading.

* even if they could gain access to read the meter.

stevegrass777

5. Back billing
Suppliers have signed up to the back-billing principles. They will assess each back-billing case individually.
5.1 If your supplier is at fault and has not sent you an accurate bill that they should have sent you, they will not ask you to pay any extra for energy you used (and which you did not receive an accurate bill for) more than one year before they issued the bill.

And
1. Switching
Suppliers will work with customers to make sure accurate information is recorded and transfers between suppliers are smooth.
1.1 Suppliers will use an agreed meter reading to open and close accounts.
1.2 Suppliers will provide you with the information you need during the switching process.
http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication.html?task=file.download&id=4991

Although it doesn't say about the 30 day thing I mentioned this was said to me by a supplier,anyway it seems as above suppliers should have used an agreed meter reading,so if they are changing the meter read after 12 months or trying to correct a inaccurate bill after 12 months they can't do it,
Either way it probably won't stop them pursuing you as in my experience SP and NPower ignore the energy billing code.

Cardew

stevegrass777 wrote: »

5. Back billing
Suppliers have signed up to the back-billing principles. They will assess each back-billing case individually.
5.1 If your supplier is at fault and has not sent you an accurate bill that they should have sent you, they will not ask you to pay any extra for energy you used (and which you did not receive an accurate bill for) more than one year before they issued the bill.

And
1. Switching
Suppliers will work with customers to make sure accurate information is recorded and transfers between suppliers are smooth.
1.1 Suppliers will use an agreed meter reading to open and close accounts.
1.2 Suppliers will provide you with the information you need during the switching process.
http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication.html?task=file.download&id=4991

Although it doesn't say about the 30 day thing I mentioned this was said to me by a supplier,anyway it seems as above suppliers should have used an agreed meter reading,so if they are changing the meter read after 12 months or trying to correct a inaccurate bill after 12 months they can't do it,
Either way it probably won't stop them pursuing you as in my experience SP and NPower ignore the energy billing code.

So we can rule out action under the back-billing clause and this statement is not accurate:

so if they are changing the meter read after 12 months or trying to correct a inaccurate bill after 12 months they can't do it,

We all support the thrust of the OP's argument, but it doesn't help to misinterpret regulations

stevegrass777

Well they didn't produce an accurate bill within 12 months.
And the bill seems to not be based on agreed meter readings if they were agreed by both sides why did the bill change after 12 months.
also if a final bill changes (different end meter reads) shouldn't the starting meter readings have to change so the starting bill should go down by a similar amount to the change in the final bill.
You need to check that the starting meter read is the same as the new sp end meter read,otherwise you may be paying twice.ive had that one with npower,both companies wanting payment for the same energy.

Ergin9

Appreciate all of your inputs into this, I have to say i'm no clearer on whether the back billing principle applies in this instance or not, the wording isn't exactly clear cut. I've not actually discussed this aspect with a complaints handler yet, it'll be interesting to see how their opinion differs to the informative posts i've read on this thread.

I'm now confident that the new bill is generated by SP updating opening estimates on my account. SP are in the process of trying to find my original statements for me to understand the difference between now and then. As they are using an estimate, what grounds do i have to challenge this (struggling to find any record of actual opening estimates unfortunately, that's not to say I didn't provide any at the time though)? Ultimately, any evidence is surely non-existent?

CashStrapped

The whole thing sounds really rather bizzare.

I have never heard of an utility supplier challenging the opening reading of an account (If this is the case. Have they confirmed this?), 2 years after the fact and after accepting the closing readings.

The only reason I can see them doing this is that after giving your closing readings, they have calculated that for the period you were with them [and based on the reading you gave] you used a suspiciously low amount of energy. If this is so low that it does not tally with the time you were with them, their system may have flagged it up. If they accept the closing readings, they must therefore (I assume) challenge the opening reading.

Without any evidence, It is hard to see how this will be resolved.

Going back to your original post (as sometimes information can get missed).....

....I can see that this [the disputed bill] is only for the two month period you were with them. Now, this is not very long, but it is in winter. You are responsible for the bills from the time the property completes. You say the property completed in November, but you only moved in in January.

When did you actually take over the supply? Was it when you moved in?

This could be the cause of the issue. You were responsible for the bills from the completion date. If the electrics were left on to keep the house warm for winter, it may have some KWH use over those two months.

If you set up an account in January, giving an opening reading then (at taking the reading at that time), and then immediately instigated a switch with a reading soon after, this will not tally with the final reading given by the previous occupants in November.

This may have only been picked up at a later date.....

This is all guesswork however, but the only logical reason I can see for SP to challenge your bill.

1) You need to check if the closing readings on your SP bill and the opening reading on the BG bill are actual/confirmed readings. Do they have letters next to them? If it is an e, then that is an estimate.

.....Having said all that, in your opening post you do say that SP are challenging the closing reading...which makes my theory less convincing...

So back to my original question....have they actually confirmed what the audit is challenging.