Scottish Power - unreasonable bill dispute - advice needed!

martygraffin68

Hi everyone,

 

I’m looking for some advice on a Scottish Power billing issue which has become a big issue.

 

Myself and my partner live in a 2-bed flat and have been with Scottish Power since July 2017, supplying gas and electricity.

 

We have been paying around £40 for electricity and £20 for gas monthly for this whole period. However after receiving an astronomically high electricity bill from them for £1850, they have suddenly claimed that they haven’t received any meter readings from us for the past 12 months and that the amount is as high as it is because it is based on estimations.

 

When prompted I have been going into our account area and submitting the readings as requested, however now looking back at the SP usage section it doesn’t appear to have logged any of them, despite the site thanking me for submitting them at the time, and getting no errors, and so the last meter read they claim to have is from July 2019.

 

One possible reason this might be is that around July 2019 our meter was accidentally switched by another tenant trying to swap providers, and gave our meter number instead of theirs, and on being set back up with SP another ‘duel fuel’ login appeared on our login area, so some confusion around multiple accounts could have caused them not to get the readings.

 

It’s incredibly frustrating that they haven’t received the readings as I only noted them on scraps of paper and didn’t take photos, which I now obviously wished I’d done; at the time I didn’t think there was any reason to do so. This makes it impossible to prove our usage after the fact.

 

Our argument basically is that, even if the bills are based on estimations, it’s still nowhere near the ballpark of what you’d expect to pay, and it is entirely unreasonable to expect that a 2 bed flat used in the region of 3520 kWh per month for 3 months (which is what they've logged it as), where the other usage for 3 years is more in the region of 260 kWh per month. There’s this massive spike in usage they’re trying to claim we’ve used, but there’s no feasible way that that is possible.

 

If anyone has any similar experiences with Scottish Power and how they dealt with it, or any other advice related to this problem I’d deeply appreciate it. We have already made a formal complaint but waiting for a call back (overdue the time period they'd promised), and will be willing to go down the Resolver and Ofgem complaints route if necessary.

 

Cheers everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this 😊

Marty

Robin9

You can still prove your usage - read the meter today and subtract the ACTUAL reading in July 2019. Then some simple sums to work out what you should have been billed (less your DD's)

Gerry1

Surely the matter will be sorted out automatically if you send them an accurate reading today and it triggers an accurate bill that replaces the estimated one?

bradders1983

Only paying £60 a month for both utilities for 2 people even in a flat seems quite low tbh.

matelodave

As said above, it should sort itself out when you send in an up to date reading.

It would also seem to be a good idea to check your bills and statements when you send in readings to ensure that they are being logged and that your bills are being correctly calculated on actual readings and not estimates.

However that said, your DD's of £40 and £20 month for gas and leccy do look a bit on the low side so it would be worth looking back at your account to find out when the last actual reading was taken and then doing some sums to work out how much your energy consumption should have cost and how much you've paid towards it.

Robin9

I see you've been with SP since 2017 - have you been switching tariffs regularly ? If not you will on a standard (ie expensive tariff)

What about the gas - have you built up  a debt there?

This is a good case for separate suppliers - not only generally cheaper but easier for you to check the DD's and the bills.

comeandgo

You have a catch up bill to pay.  Your monthly payments are very low so each month you would have been a little more in arrears.   When you submit your actual readings you will be able to see how much you are due to pay.  Hopefully you will be able to pay the backlog over a suitable time period but you will not be able to change supplier until your debt is paid.  

Petriix

£60 per month is not all that low. We pay £39 per month for 4 people in a 3 bed terrace with 2 adults working from home. 2 adults both working and a well insulated flat with gas heating shouldn't be much more than that.

In any case, all the OP needs to do is take a reading today and submit it. Then, once the updated bill is produced and paid, they should do a full market comparison and switch to a cheaper supplier. 

Talldave

comeandgo said:

You have a catch up bill to pay.  Your monthly payments are very low so each month you would have been a little more in arrears.   When you submit your actual readings you will be able to see how much you are due to pay.  Hopefully you will be able to pay the backlog over a suitable time period but you will not be able to change supplier until your debt is paid.  

I think you've missed the point. Meter readings were being used until July 2019. SP have estimated since then as the meter readings submitted have gone astray.

The £60 could be feasible for a well insulated flat (being insulated by other flats heated by someone else is always a bonus) if the supplier was cheap. I wonder if SP are that cheap though. What was the account balance after the July 2019 readings? 

theoretica

If there was a mix up with the account check that the july 2019 reading was yours (not from the other meter) and was realistic.  You can get an idea by looking at any meter readings before then, if you can access them, and how much they change per month.  Also, of course, check the current reading - different meters can be misread in different ways.

Robin9

Why do posters, like the OP, who were seriously concerned/worried/panicking only a few hours ago and get lots of constructive comments/questions/advice within minutes not make any responses?