Scottish Power - in debt through no fault of mine

Victoria74

Hi carrot007

All I know regards the meter, cap or anything else involved was on site and completed at least 2-3 months before moving in

Victoria74

Hi dogshome

You stated;

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

What is #Post7 please?

Victoria74

Hi Matty36

I don't believe the length of time it has gone on for is primarily down to me, in my opinion the stupidly long length of time this has gone on for is down to my housing association landlord refusal to look into this matter any further than getting one of the admin staff to tell me each time I have asked can the meter be removed to avoid this never ending charge for something I was no part of, to tell me verbally that "the surveyor said that the issue I have with the meter charges was between me and SP.

I believe that SP, being the massive juggernaut it is, can, and very often do ignore complaints, just because they can.

My housing association landlord and SP have nothing to lose at it stands, only gain (if I pay) whereas I have much to lose......money, time sanity........What you think?

I am just a lay person, the two organisations involved WON'T be in debt if they ignore me, WON'T have their time wasted, WON'T have atomic levels of frustration,anger, futility felt and even if they did, there are 100 other members of staff with resources provided to them to conduct business. They have nothing to lose, What can I do if I am stonewalled by both of them, I have to either pay for standing charge,pay for removal of meter if I can get consent from landlord, which I can't get, or pay for court and representation in court, pay, pay, or pay are my 3 options for something that occurred before I was even living in this city, let alone this house.

If I am guilty of anything it is not knowing what to do or who to ask without it costing me amounts i cannot afford to pay.

So, if I live for another roughly, 40 years, I have lived in this house for 10 years so far, that's 50 years of paying for something I never was a part of in the first place.......LITERALLY £5k for precisely nothing 😤😣

dogshome

Victoria 74
Each post on this subject is numbered, your first post being No 1


Post 7 is my reply pointing out that as you have used no gas, no contract exists between you, SP & the IGP, and they cannot charge you

[Deleted User]

Victoria74 wrote: »

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?

I had to do that when I had a vacant property for over a year and did nt fancy paying a monthly standing charge to BG. Ebico (now run by Robin Hood Energy ) took it on with no problems with a zero standing charge but a very high kwh gas charge of over 5 p/kwh.
There was a slight problem when I used the Cheap Energy Club comparison site to switch and it would nt accept a zero gas usage to proceed so I used the lowest possible , 100 kwhs a year I think it was, to allow the switch to continue.. Ebico did charge a small amount for month or two but then lowered it to a zero monthly charge once the usage became known..They still owe me £4 which I have forgotten to reclaim from 3 years ago.
I suppose that Ebico are happy to gain new customers , who don t pay anything, because in future they eventually will at some time. In my case the property was sold after a year of vacancy and the new occupiers would then be in a deemed contract with a very good and reliable supplier such as Ebico ( RHE ).
To get your monthly costs down now I would switch supply to Ebico and eventually recover past standing charges hopefully from either the HA or Scottish Power under the deemed contract/usage policy
..I do have my doubts about some aspects of this as I do not think it is set in stone as an OFGEM rule to suppliers but more of a recommendation.
As a meter reader for Scottish Power I could see a flaw in this with some occupiers moving in and just ignoring entering into a deemed contract and using as much energy as they want using an ebay sub meter in place of the original meter therefore the possibility of an occupier not having a "deemed contract " with no rights of access by any supplier to do safety checks on meters.

macman

You really are over-complicating this. You said that your LL advised you to switch to an NSC tariff x (10?) years ago, why didn't you take that advice then and avoid this debt? As soon as you switch, you will stop building further debt. Just put your estimated usage down as a very low amount, then supply regular reads to show zero usage. Ebico will be fine with this.
The fact remains that you as the occupier are responsible for the utility bills, not the HA, despite their bad choice of heating systems.
I agree that you should dispute the standing charges on the grounds that you have never used the supply and therefore no deemed contract exists, it's a long shot but one with nothing to lose.

Victoria74

Hi macman
Nowhere have I said my landlord offered to go on a NSC contract, if you read some of the other posts you will see that my landlords surveyor said it is a matter between myself and my landlord, Scottish Power said they have a right to charge for the gas meter on site until landlord gives consent to remove it, I am reluctant to try another provider with NSC only because if I do enter into a contract and terms and conditions change over time, then I have voluntarily entered into an agreement then I will be back to paying standing charges again. Also my next door neighbour had their gas meter removed very quickly, very easily with no charge or having to go to another gas provider when they don't want gas, if I ask for the same for me that my neighbours got, why have I not had the same option they got without hassle or being ignored, where did you see me write my landlord have offered anything?
Thank you for your reply, much appreciated.

matelodave

You still seem to miss the point.

You didn't have to stay with Scottish Power, you could have changed suppliers to one with a zero standing charge but instead you appear to have hung on with SP and got into a never ending fight with them.

One that could have been solved many years ago.

Victoria74

No I understand the point and why you made it, I have a hard time seeing how this is applicable to me and the situation present. How can this be justified to charge a person for something they never asked for, wanted, needed or use, who was no part in the agreement or information involved and didn't know it would be feasible or accepted by another gas supplier to go through the futile exercise of opening an account for what is basically a ghost customer. I do not understand that kind of BS to line the pocket of a private company, if this is what I think it is then it absolutely stinks and if I am wrong, I am wrong. Hope this goes some way to establishing my viewpoint. Thank you for your reply. Vic

Victoria74

This is just an exercise to get away from SP, still doesn't resolve the flaws in the abject waste of logic in all of this.