Never ending Scottish Power hell

discodancing

Hello,

I currently have an outstanding bill with Scottish Power of £2600. I believe they are still billing me incorrectly but I am finding this difficult to prove. I have been through Ombudsman and not found them much help, I really am at a loss now. In the meantime, I might put my efforts into reducing the bill using ‘backbilling’. Below is the Ombudsman report for my case. Based on this, would backbilling be applicable? From what I know, I believe it should be so I am surprised Ombusman did not mention this.

I have also received all of my info as I had emailed SP about Subject Access Request so I will sift through the CDs to find dates where I told them I believed I was on the wrong tariff but would the below suffice for contacting SP about backbilling?

[FONT=&quot]Report[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have considered the information provided by both parties. This includes a summary of your complaint, screenshots, emails and bill extracts. I spoke to you on 22 February 2017. Scottish Power has provided a detailed case file which includes its comments on your complaint points, its proposal, offer of resolution, system screenshots and account notes. I spoke to Scottish Power on 23 February 2018 and 5, 8 and 9 March 2018.

Your complaint is that you received a large bill covering a three month period during which you were away for a month.

Your meter has three readings but you are only able to submit two. Scottish Power didn’t believe you until someone else complained about the same problem.

You have sent all the information that had been asked of you, including readings, but you have heard nothing in response despite the fact that you were promised a new bill. You believe your direct debit is too high.

You want Scottish Power to resolve the issue with the meter readings, generate a correct bill, refund any over-payments, ensure you are on the correct tariff for her meter and provide compensation for the stress caused and time taken.

I have now concluded my investigation into your complaint and am in a position to share my findings with you.

During my investigation I have found a number of customer service shortfalls on the evidence I have received. I have detailed these below and will address them in my remedy.

Scottish Power failed to call you back at 6pm on 4 October 2017. You chased this up the following evening. It took Scottish Power eight days to respond but all it did was apologise for the delay and ask if you were still requiring help.

You sent Scottish Power emails on 13 October 2017 and 17 October 2017 without getting a substantive reply.

You messaged Scottish Power on 27 October 2017 confirming that no one had called you and that the situation was very urgent.

You reiterated that you wanted an evening call, queried why you were still paying £800 per quarter and confirming that you needed to get the issue resolved.

This was not addressed at all in later messages from Scottish Power that day.

You messaged Scottish Power again on 22 November 2017, but you did not receive a response until 28 November 2017, and that did not address the questions you had raised.

You emailed Scottish Power twice on 26 November 2017 but received no reply. You chased this up on 28 November 2017, sent meter readings on 6 December 2017, and chased a reply again on 28 December 2017. All you received in the interim were standard emails confirming your bill was available and an acknowledgement telling you that your complaint remained a top priority.

You sent more chasing emails on 3 January 2018 and 10 January 2018.

Scottish Power offered to get a Customer Liaison Officer (CLO) to visit the property and confirm the metering type and obtain readings to allow it to carry out any required amendments to its records.

This visit by the CLO took place on 5 March 2018. It was originally booked for 1 March 2018. It is not clear why the visit did not actually take place then, but it is thought it was deferred because of the adverse weather conditions at the time. On the balance of probability and on the evidence before me, I do find that that was the reason for the visit being delayed. On that basis, I do not find this to be a shortfall in customer service.

The results of the visit are that the CLO noted that you are being supplied by an Economy 2000 meter with Meter Serial Number (MSN) 2112P02451. The heating type is electric wet underfloor. The CLO took three readings as follows:

• read 1: 17206;
• read 2: 03416; and
• read 3: 47553

The CLO also noted that the meter was changed on 22 January 2013. MSN ending in 40 was removed with final readings of 04754, 01567 and 12018, and replaced with the current meter, MSN ending 51, with starting readings of 00002, 00001 and 00002.

I have examined the readings and they do all fall in line with those of the previously removed meter, as well as with the readings you provided to Scottish Power on 15 May 2017 and 21 September 2017, even though you were only able to provide two readings, reads 1 and 3, of 14042, 34245, and 15323, 39638 respectively. I have taken these readings from the bill extract you provided.

I have compared the bill you are disputing, dated 27 September 2017, covering the period between 16 May 2017 and 21 September 2017 and for a total of £943.27 including VAT, to a bill for a similar period. The bill dated 12 September 2016, covering the period between 11 May 2016 and 9 September 2016, was for £298.78, including VAT. I agree that this difference is huge and that on the face of it there is no obvious explanation.

However, the reason for the increase in charges is that Scottish Power did not bill you on an Economy 2000 tariff, including an Off Peak Charge, in the most recent of these bills. It appears to have billed you as if your meter was Economy 7, using a standard (day) rate and a heating (night) rate, even though the bill states that your meter type is Domestic & Economy 2000. There is a sizeable difference in the unit charge, compared to the bill dated 12 September 2016.

The off peak unit charge in the September 2016 bill varied between 7.698p and 9.357p, with the peak unit charge varying between 11.925p and 13.747p.

The off peak unit charge in the September 2017 bill varied between 10.434p and 12.269p, with the peak unit charge varying between 15.572p and 16.903p.

Economy 2000 typically provides 18 hours of low rate electricity in a 24 hour period, interrupting the supply at times of maximum power station demand for three two hour periods daily, normally between 8am and 10am, 4.30pm and 6.30pm and between midnight and 2am. This makes it more economical than an Economy 7 set up.

Having reviewed all the bills, I am not satisfied that you have been billed correctly on occasions prior to September 2016 so, as part of my remedy, I will require Scottish Power to rebill your account in its entirety, using the recently acquired readings.

As you believe your direct debit is too high, I will also require Scottish Power to carry out a direct debit reassessment once it has rebilled your account.

In relation to any outstanding balance on the account after the rebill, I can confirm that the company is required to offer any customer a payment plan which takes into account their ability to pay, giving consideration to the length of time the debt has accumulated, so I would recommend that you contact it directly regarding this. Ombudsman Services: Energy cannot dictate the terms of any such plan.

Scottish Power has already applied a goodwill payment of £30 to your account. It is my opinion that, while it has offered to apply a further goodwill payment of £50, it should, taking into account the customer service shortfalls I have identified above, credit your account with a goodwill payment of £100.

Scottish Power has also offered to provide you with a written apology. This is fair and reasonable and I will require it to do so in my remedy.

Following my investigation of your complaint, my decision requires Scottish Power to:

• rebill your account numbered 16025908012 in its entirety on the most beneficial Economy 2000 tariff available, to 5 March 2018, using closing readings of 17206, 03416 and 47553;
• send a letter of apology to you; and
• credit your above-numbered account with £100 as a gesture of goodwill[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]