Scottish Power - in debt through no fault of mine

Victoria74

Hi, thank you for your reply, would another provider be happy to take me on as a 'customer' when I won't be using the supply? How would this be feasible for them?

Victoria74

Hi D_M_E
Thank you for your reply, I thought the same thing about the capped supply but can gain no clarification from housing landlord or SP about this, have asked many times.

Where the IGT charges are concerned, they were said to have been stopped since I consulted with CAB and the adviser, at the time (2010), wanted me to escalate my complaint to what he called 'a widespread social concern'. The IGT charges were supposed to be stopped around Aug '10, I have bills with IGT still added after this date, which continued to raise the debt. Although they have stopped now charging for IGT the debt they added for IGT remains. My concern with the standing charge is why should I pay for something I didn't ask for, need, want or been informed of, why I have no choice but to pay? How much and for how long must i pay for gas transportation and the amounts for IGT varied inc. one with 2 IGT amounts.

There has been some small amounts added to the gas bill for usage and at one point they had me down as owing £45000, yes forty five thousand pounds for gas consumed, the MPRN changes from the correct one to a completely different one over and over again,latest gas bill states the wrong MPRN again, I have noticed 5 different account numbers listed for this property, more than 20 occasions when either myself or a meter reader has logged the supply as capped, unused, zero consumption, reading zero, reading 999999, etc but SP still say they were not informed of the meter being capped and in Feb this year say they will update the system.

Funny thing is, a family of 4 living next door didn't use gas, they asked for the gas meter to be removed, was told by SP that they need permission from house owner, neighbours asked landlord, landlord said same to neighbours that was told to me, neighbours rang SP back stating what the landlord said (nothing to do with landlord, the matter was between neighbour and SP), the meter was removed without landlord consent, why could my neighbour have the exact same energy usage arrangements as me, with the exact same request, for the exact same reason, have their gas meter removed with 3 short telephone requests, yet I am still wanting the meter out to avoid the charge but my landlord says it is not their issue and SP say they will not remove my gas meter without consent from the landlord and have a right to keep charging me. I don't understand how this is fair, to me, it clearly isnt.

I wrote to the Ombudsman in 2016, they said they couldn't do anything as I would need 4 deadlock letters (this was because my complaint contained 4 issues; the standing charge, the IGT charges, a time when my phone number was passed to another member of staff after explicitly and repeatedly stating that did not wish to have communication verbally with SP as I had no way of keeping track of discussion and wanted written communication only to help with my endeavour to sort this out and Cannot remember the fourth issue I had when I wrote to the Ombudsman). The Ombudsman said I could come back to them with the four separate deadlock letters and they may take another look. I was working up to 100 hours per week at the time (between 2011-15). I was exhausted with it all.

I have a latest bill stating my estimated annual cost as £114.21, this amount is higher than the standing charge over 12 months, also states estimated usage in last 12 months as 11kWh, along with the incorrect meter number, these are 3 errors in one bill.

What did you mean by a 'set aside' for the CCJ? The CCJ was imposed around Sept '17, I have had 5 different debt companies demanding payment,the latest being Jan this year, he took photos of my 13yr old car, I have managed to get this debt collector to return the debt back to SP as I freaked out at the thought of losing my car, it it vital due to my health. And so we are back to square one. There is more but this post is massive, sorry. Appreciate your input, have a great day.

dogshome

Victoria 74
When you move into a property, you automatically have a 'Deemed' contract with that dwellings current supplier.
However, Ofgem who make all the rules, have declared that until a new occupier actually uses some Electricity or Gas, no deemed contract exists.


Situations where a householder uses no gas or electricity from the outset are rare, and for that reason Ofgems ruling is not widely known or understood, even by the industry professionals.


Please WRITE the letters as #Post 7 - The quicker you get Ofgem involved the better - It's unlikely you will get a reply, but what will happen is that they will have 'words' with SP, who will back off

Victoria74

Hi Houbara and thank you for your reply.

Don't know if you saw my reply to D_M_E but my neighbour has their gas meter removed without consent from the landlord, exact same reasons as myself, go figure huh!

It seems to me that SP are paying both National Grid and an independent gas transportation company for service, the meter is outside and can be accessed at anytime, I understand that the standing charge is for pipelines and such not for the meter but I cannot get my head around the fact that I must pay for something I had no input, choice, knowledge, or use for the gas, to me this is like saying I have no choice, for example, Tesco want to charge me say £100 p.a for the choice using them to gather stuff I need, me never using them and never will and Tesco saying tough-pay up! Probably wrong analogy but isn't the principle the same? The reason I haven't gone to another gas supplier is O don't need a gas supplier, everything is electric. Would another supplier take me for a gas account even though I don't and won't use that account, ever? What would be in it for them? Would they go ahead with this and just send me zero bills so long as I chose a plan with no standing charge while the new gas company would have no other way to charge me for anything else because I have no gas appliances and no gas? Appreciate your reply,enjoy your day, Vic

Victoria74

Hi Carrot007, any idea how much it costs to have the meter removed and reinstated at a later date? This could be cheaper than a debt that never ends,cheers, Vic

Victoria74

Hi dogshome and thank you for your reply.

I wasn't an existing tenant, house was completed, I think around June '09, I moved in and Oct '09, is this relevant?

Don't know if you saw my reply to D_M_E but my neighbour had his gas meter removed without consent from the landlord .

I will write to who you say but one thing, the IGT charges are no longer levied, SP said the IGT element was removed,but I still got bills with IGT added. Would it still be worth writing to the IGT company as the charge for them has stopped although the amount of debt remains?

Appreciate your input, have a great day 😊

Carrot007

Victoria74 wrote: »

Hi Carrot007, any idea how much it costs to have the meter removed and reinstated at a later date? This could be cheaper than a debt that never ends,cheers, Vic

Removal should not be massive. Depends on supplier. Never more than £200.




However after a year the transpoter usually declares the pipes unfit for use and requires a ful lre-commision (and may even remove the pipes (or more likely part of)).


Getting a new supply in then usually cosst a couple of thousand. However I would expect more with an IGT. And the cost of the "new" install can go up if everyone around you also does not have commisioned pipes as you would be paying for new pipes/commisioning from whereever the live supply was (aand this can go into 10's of thousands).


Of course I just highlight worst case scenarioes here.


Other peoples advise on if you have never used any gas seems relevant too. On that though do you know if the gas is capped before or after the meter? If before paying nothing ebcomes clearer. However with a meter in place I doubt this is the way (it is quite unusual).

Victoria74

Hi Lisi299

Thank you for your reply, just seems ludicrous altogether, I (and my neighbours)were never part of the arrangements for energy provision, SP was just the default provider selected by the housing landlord when we all moved in, new estate, new builds, new pipes, etc, I have no problem at all with the meter remaining on site for a potential future tenant, I only have a problem with paying for it for the duration, I may live in this house until I am dead and at approximately £100p.a, that's going to accumulate a sizeable amount over the decades......how is this reasonable? I understand this is a cost to the energy companies which they pass on to the customer/user but I am nether a customer or a user of gas services and haven't been an electric customer with SP since 2012. I shall check out the link you added and while heartedly thank you for taking the time to reply have a lovely day, Vic

Victoria74

Hi dogshome

Yes you are correct, I was first phase tenant, when I moved in, there was only about 8-10 homes completed, at least 3 of these were still empty when I moved in. The first few houses built (not sure how many) were fitted with electric central heating, I think this was done kind of offer from the central heating provider to install so many units at a reduced price as a sort of deal to see if the housing association would order more for later phases of the new builds, turns out the housing association didn't much like what they offered (I have had the engineers come around to fix my heating and hot water system at least 20 times since I moved in, it still doesn't work properly and the engineers they sent, most of them had never heard of airflow systems,let alone be familiar with one, it still temperamental to this day, I sometimes need to put on my electric fire, my blow heater and add hot kettles of water to my bath, all this from a brand new system!!! Mind boggles) and started installing combi boilers after erecting about 20 new homes with the electric type for heating and hot water, my heating system is an airflow type and I would recommend it to nobody......ever, it's rubbish haha.

There is no specific clause in my tenancy with and yet the debt still lies with me😕

Victoria74

Hi barneyrubble

Thank you for your reply, at least you had a say, and choice and a reason for the changes you made and or needed, also, you say SSE responded, albeit, slowly. I am sure you are happy to pay the standing charge if you plan to renew your boiler and radiators, I would too if in your situation, glad SSE eventually worked with you and assisted in redressing the balance you are satisfied with,have a great day, Vic