Sottish Power being utterly useless

dogshome

Hmmm - Something is wrong as the OP's posts don't seem to add up.
"Most Commercial properties don't need gas"
This depends on what type of commerce the building was used for

"My neighbors in these flats have gas"
If indeed the building did not have gas, then someone paid out BIG BUCKS to have gas brought into the building to supply this flat, in which case it makes no sense not to pipe the supply to both flats - Likewise if there was an existing gas supply, why would the developer adapt the feed to only one flat?

There is an answer to these questions, in that there was an existing Gas supply and it's meter was contained in the area occupied by the neighbors flat and the developer saved cash by not extending the Gas to the OP's flat, or it was extended to end with a capped pipe with no meter

I'm afraid the OP has to do some research to find out just what the situation is, which won't be easy as the present Landlord may not be the developer

qqg3

I will be speaking to my landlord again.

As far as I understand it, the building is a small group of flats. I'm on the ground floor in what was originally a commercial space (shop/retail type-commercial only).

So the rest of the flats are probably piped, I know where their gas meters are (outside). But from what I know this commercial space (now my flat) wasn't given gas (I assume there are liabilities involved there, only restaurants and what have you need gas maybe?)

Scottish Power are insisting they need to do a site visit and inspection to clear this up but that involves providing my name, which I flat out refuse to do because I don't want my name near hundreds of pounds worth of debt I'm not liable for.

Whats really strange is, this property was converted in about 2008 I believe, so I am not the first tenant.

This only seemed to started happening about 6 months after I moved in, so something automatic has trigged in the SP system I assume? (One phone rep has said the account creation was automatic based on their information saying there is some sort of live gas supply tied to this address)

mac.d

There's no reason why it couldn't have had a gas supply as a commercial property, and even if it didn't originally, if it was converted from a commercial to a residential property, part of the conversion might have been to add gas.

Scottish Power wouldn't start sending out letters for no reason and haven't dreamt up an account for your address. Even if there is definitely no gas supply, it could be an inadvertent mix-up and the meter they are looking to get paid for is one of your neighbours. Maybe the previous tenant had been getting letters too.

You say the gas meters for the other flats are outside, are there the same number of meters as there are flats? Does the letter from Scottish Power give the meter number, and if so, can you locate that meter?

You could also phone up the National Grid to see if there is a gas meter registered to your address, and if so, what is the Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) and who the supplier is (M Number enquiry line 0870 608 1524). And check to see if that MPRN is mentioned anywhere in the letters from Scottish Power.

I wouldn't just rely on the landlord, and if I was sure there was no gas supply, I'd just let Scottish Power send someone out to do a site inspection, don't give them your name if you are worried they'll start sending the bill in your name rather than the occupier.