Scottish Power Won't Let Me Transfer due to debt

darlenewilliam

As an update for today.

Scottish Power had someone call me to take care of my complaint with the way things have been handle thus far.  Without going into great detail and making this another long post, basically, he said, until the debt is paid off they cannot make a transfer, full stop!  Ok, so my solution is going to be to make a FULL payment to Scottish Power out of our business account.  Transfer everything over to the new supplier, make sure before hand that Smart Meter can be installed and start afresh. This way, everyone concerned can see what the consumption is and what the cost is on a daily basis.  The chap who rang this afternoon, really didn't have much information and to be quite honest should have looked into the complaint more and called tomorrow like he was suppose to instead of ringing today.  He needs to get his ducks in a row basically.  Oh, and he offered me as a "gesture of goodwill payment of £10.00" to either be posted to me or placed against the dept.. OMG!!!  this is like a slap in the face in my opinion!  I asked him in jest .. can you add about 2 more zeros to the goodwill payment! .. He did have a chuckle as he knew what I meant.  Anyway, I don't want others to think I'm a slag or someone who doesn't want to pay bills.. I do pay my bills and I pay dearly for each and every one of them.  I was only just asking for some advice and basically if I had a leg to stand on, as the majority of bills have been estimated and no smart meter to send the readings automatically through..

Robin9

@darlenewilliam    Can you give us the meter reads from your last bill please - include those letters A, C or E   and read you meter now.

How do you give your meter  reads to SP?

Like others I find meter reads by a meter reader are few and far between -  the only issues I've had with submitting my own reads is when I've read the meters wrongly.

Thrugelmir

darlenewilliam said:

The payment to EON has been paid off for a long time.  There is nothing left outstanding with them at all.  Have you ever had an electric bill come through that says estimated on it even when you know full well that someone came out and read the meter?  I've had this happen on several occasions, and with different suppliers. 

Is this being reflected on the data that the credit agencies hold on you? 

[Deleted User]

Robin9 said:

@darlenewilliam    Can you give us the meter reads from your last bill please - include those letters A, C or E   and read you meter now.

How do you give your meter  reads to SP?

Like others I find meter reads by a meter reader are few and far between -  the only issues I've had with submitting my own reads is when I've read the meters wrongly.

As suppliers no longer have to read meters then that is hardly much of a surprise. The Licence obligation is to obtain a meter reading once every 12 months which can include customer and smart meter readings.

[Deleted User]

darlenewilliam said:

As an update for today.

Scottish Power had someone call me to take care of my complaint with the way things have been handle thus far.  Without going into great detail and making this another long post, basically, he said, until the debt is paid off they cannot make a transfer, full stop!  Ok, so my solution is going to be to make a FULL payment to Scottish Power out of our business account.  Transfer everything over to the new supplier, make sure before hand that Smart Meter can be installed and start afresh. This way, everyone concerned can see what the consumption is and what the cost is on a daily basis.  The chap who rang this afternoon, really didn't have much information and to be quite honest should have looked into the complaint more and called tomorrow like he was suppose to instead of ringing today.  He needs to get his ducks in a row basically.  Oh, and he offered me as a "gesture of goodwill payment of £10.00" to either be posted to me or placed against the dept.. OMG!!!  this is like a slap in the face in my opinion!  I asked him in jest .. can you add about 2 more zeros to the goodwill payment! .. He did have a chuckle as he knew what I meant.  Anyway, I don't want others to think I'm a slag or someone who doesn't want to pay bills.. I do pay my bills and I pay dearly for each and every one of them.  I was only just asking for some advice and basically if I had a leg to stand on, as the majority of bills have been estimated and no smart meter to send the readings automatically through..

Just to be clear, a debt is not an energy debit balance. Before a debit balance becomes a debt, the supplier needs to advise the consumer in writing of the amount owed, and if the debit balance remains unpaid for 28 or more days it becomes a debt. Except for people on pre-payment meters, a debt is not transferable between suppliers. All that said, I know that when cashflow is tight some suppliers play ‘fast and loose’ with the Ofgem definition of a debt to retain customers for a few more weeks.

Robin9

@darlenewilliam When you have cleared your SP debt and got setup with a new supplier you do need take responsibility for your own meter readings -  take them monthly and keep your own records.

But before you set up your new supplier you must be able to tell them your actual annual consumption - you've not (edit) got it wrong twice with Eon and SP and ended up underpaying .

You know the actual reading when you transferred to SP (It will be on the statement) and you know todays reading. It 's then a matter of some simple sums.

molerat

darlenewilliam said:

As an update for today.

Scottish Power had someone call me to take care of my complaint with the way things have been handle thus far.  Without going into great detail and making this another long post, basically, he said, until the debt is paid off they cannot make a transfer, full stop!  Ok, so my solution is going to be to make a FULL payment to Scottish Power out of our business account.  Transfer everything over to the new supplier, make sure before hand that Smart Meter can be installed and start afresh. This way, everyone concerned can see what the consumption is and what the cost is on a daily basis.  The chap who rang this afternoon, really didn't have much information and to be quite honest should have looked into the complaint more and called tomorrow like he was suppose to instead of ringing today.  He needs to get his ducks in a row basically.  Oh, and he offered me as a "gesture of goodwill payment of £10.00" to either be posted to me or placed against the dept.. OMG!!!  this is like a slap in the face in my opinion!  I asked him in jest .. can you add about 2 more zeros to the goodwill payment! .. He did have a chuckle as he knew what I meant.  Anyway, I don't want others to think I'm a slag or someone who doesn't want to pay bills.. I do pay my bills and I pay dearly for each and every one of them.  I was only just asking for some advice and basically if I had a leg to stand on, as the majority of bills have been estimated and no smart meter to send the readings automatically through..

Once again putting your trust in the system to do everything automatically.  You may get lucky and the smart meter works as advertised and the supplier uses the readings.  Unfortunately there are far too many people lulled into a false sense of security by the tv adverts and do not check their smart bills and meter readings only to discover way too late that the system is not actually working.

welshmoneylover

So glad SP have sorted it for you but yes you need to pay the debt off. When you transfer to a new supplier don’t just pick the cheapest you need to use your actual usage to ensure you pay the correct amounts to avoid any debt building up.
also send in regular reads to ensure you are paying for what you use