Scottish Power changed my direct debit - now I'm in debt

imlistening

I’ve been with Scottish Power for a number of years and have always had two separate direct debits - one for gas and the other for electricity - each for about £33 which covered our usage and often left us in credit.

Last week I received a letter from them letting me know they are increasing our DD to £120 per month and when I called them they told me this is because we are £840 in debit. After a lot of questioning, I finally got to the bottom of this but not before being given a lot of misinformation. SP gave me conflicting information and changed their story - they really didn't seem to know what they were talking about. It seems SP took it upon themselves to decrease my DD to £20 and £13 and this was based on an engineer reading on November 19th 2014. They didn't inform me of this (they say this was because I was on an online plan at the time and they don't correspond by mail) and therefore I wasn't aware I was underpaying and accumulating debt.

I’m shocked they changed the DD without letting me know and that they haven't been in touch to let me know about the accumulating debt. I have never been in debt before and to be hit with an £840 bill just before Christmas (and both of my children’s and my partner’s birthday next month) is really upsetting and worrying.

SP is at fault here and I am not sure how to proceed but I've been in touch with the energy ombudsman. SP offered to set up a plan where I can pay the debt off in instalments but I would like to appeal this. Can you offer any advice please? Thanks in advance.

matelodave

Don't you look at your bank statements or check your energy bills. That's two years worth since 2014

You are as much to blame as you didn't keep an eye on them, didn't you notice that you had £33 extra in your account - that's nigh on £800 over the two years - I bet you would have whinged a bit if they'd have put it up

You shouldn't blame someone else for your own shortcomings

Rubidium

SP is not at fault here, you are!

You are on an online tariff and you are supposed to provide regular meter readings and view your account invoices online.

You have allowed your account to get into arrears, so you have to accept responsibility for this and now pay off your debt.

imlistening

Ok - fair enough. Just thought I would seek some advice on here but I put my hands up to not checking my account and assuming everything was ok. It has been a busy two years and I have let things slide - don't need any criticism for my stupidity! So I guess I should just work out a payment plan. FYI - I have not been on an online tariff for the last year and have had no notification from them - but that's not really the point. And I guess I wouldn't be whinging at all if they had just left well alone - that's the bit I don't get!

NittyGritty

always always check your online account when a bill is produced,


if there is an increase/decrease in your direct debit it will always say near the top of your bill (it does in my case anyway) if not it will be on the bill you look at whenever it gets produced


as for do you think you should pay it? I don't think there much you can do but to pay it,


the only good thing is the plan they offered you to pay it off, it might be a good idea if you cant afford to pay it all in one go.

dogshome

I'm afraid that with an Online account, the responsibilty of giving meter readings and checking the bills is down to you

However as SP have offered a payment plan, if you can afford it, agree to it.
If you can't afford it try to negotiate for it run over a longer period with lower payments.
Important
You must get the details of the payment plan in writing from SP - There's a lot of traffic on this site where customers are on an agreed plan with thier supplier, but then get Debt Collection letters threatening court action

matelodave

imlistening wrote: »

Ok - fair enough. Just thought I would seek some advice on here but I put my hands up to not checking my account and assuming everything was ok. It has been a busy two years and I have let things slide. Should I just pay it do you think?

It's got to paid sometime - you could ask them to put your DD up so you can pay it over a period, probably 12 months - that would work out at about £66 plus the £60-80 a month that you should be paying at the moment - you you could expect a DD of around £130 which might be better than lashing out the whole lot in one go.

It depends whether you want to swap suppliers - if you do then you'll have to pay off the arrears in one go.

Make sure you do it properly in future and check your bills against your own meter readings - at least once a month and most of all check your bank account a bit more often