No bill from Scottish Power since moving to new house

tom152

A long story short, when I moved into my new property 5 months ago, I phoned Scottish Power to take over the existing gas account. The process went through fine as far as I was aware, and I can see in my bank account that a direct debit was set up.

I've just become aware that Scottish Power haven't taken a single payment in the entire time I've been at the property, but the gas is still being supplied.

I've contacted them today and they say that 'the account was not set up under your name. The account was set up with previous tenant's name however the account for previous tenant was closed'.

I'm very annoyed about this as I'm going to end up with a massive bill from SP, despite the fact that I know I set up the account, and even have the direct debit set up to prove it.

Does anyone have any experience of this, or do I have to just swallow my medicine and pay the bill?

nigelbb

tom152 wrote: »

I'm very annoyed about this as I'm going to end up with a massive bill from SP, despite the fact that I know I set up the account, and even have the direct debit set up to prove it.

Does anyone have any experience of this, or do I have to just swallow my medicine and pay the bill?

A massive bill for gas that you hadn't noticed that you have not been paying for? So in fact it's paying the bill that is legitimately owed to Scottish Power for five months of gas?

molerat

So in 5 months you have never submitted a reading, checked you energy account or checked your bank account ? Yes SP have screwed up but you must accept much of the blame yourself. All you can do is insist they spread the bill over the same period or maybe over a year.

tom152

The thing is, I did submit a meter reading. It was Scottish Power, but a man who came to the house and left a card for me to do it online. Not that I have any record of that now.

matelodave

One guesses that if you've not been paying your direct debit then there's 5 months worth of cash sitting in your bank account in anticipation of the bill coming forth.

Had you been reading your meters, sending in the readings and checking your on-line account you would have been aware that something was wrong several months ago and you could have got it sorted out then.

I suggest that you put a bit more effort into checking your accounts -especially the bank account just to ensure that you money is going where you hope it is and not being syphoned off by someone else.

tom152

I mean to say, ‘it wasn’t Scottish Power but...’

Kirwan94

I'd call ScottishPower, advise that you did contact and request that they backdate your tariff to the tariffs that were available when you moved in. You'll still have a bill to pay but if you're setting up a Direct Debit this will be spread over the next 12 months.

tom152

Kirwan94 wrote: »

I'd call ScottishPower, advise that you did contact and request that they backdate your tariff to the tariffs that were available when you moved in. You'll still have a bill to pay but if you're setting up a Direct Debit this will be spread over the next 12 months.

Thank you for the helpful (and non judgmental) response.

matelodave

tom152 wrote: »

Thank you for the helpful (and non judgmental) response.

No one was being judgmental - they just pointed out the fact you did not check your bank account or look for energy bills for five months.

SP are not blameless but you could have got it sorted it out a lot sooner.

Rodders53

Scottish Power have a pretty good online account system.

You take a reading and submit them whenever you want to. They produce a bill almost immediately from that information. You can see your DD payments being credited to the account and their bills being paid, plus the balance owed them / owing to you.

If your DD will be insufficient (or too much) they will offer an adjustment to the amount.

Why are you not using that online account system? It gives you some control!

I've only been (back from nPower) with SP for a few months and have provided monthly readings that way.

But, of course you owe SP for the gas used... and a good outcome would be that they get you on their cheapest possible tariff from the date you took over the supply (and the DD setup is evidence they've messed something up). So raise a Complaint (use that word when you speak again) to get things sorted. They may also allow you to pay a higher DD to recover the owed money over the next 6-12 months if you ask nicely.