FALSE BILLING / NO OFF PEAK

dmfrs3666

Hi

had 2 electricians from my housing association today , who informed me that I have had no Of peak electricity in my property , since I moved in.
They informed me that the wiring is wrong , that the wiring is going to wrong place / wrong box . The cable which is marked of peak is going in wrong place / box The electricians informed me that my storage heaters , which have 2 switches each , when turned on there is a light coming on is wrong , as one switch is for of peak , it should not come on unless its of peak . 
Turns out electric company responsible for wiring is a sub contractor for my housing association .
Just spent 90 minutes on phone to Scottish power etc , I need wait for appointment etc , cant give me a time scale .
I have spoken to citizens advice , 

I am nearly £1000 in debt to Scottish power , paying direct debits of £139 a month to Scottish power . I am on Universal Credit , 
I am washing dishes in cold water , only bathing every 3 days .
I am at my wits end with worry , 

Does any one ever experienced this ? 

Does any one have any advice ? 

Thanks

[Deleted User]

You need to speak to your Housing Association. Suppliers are not responsible for wiring on the house side of the meter. Your Landlord needs to take this up with their electrician and you need to engage with your Landlord about compensation. What exactly are you hoping that Scottish Power will do other than give you time to pay?

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Modern storage heaters such as Dimplex Quantum usually have both off peak and peak supplies.  The peak rate supply should only be used for (expensive) top ups in the evening if there's been a sudden cold snap.  You need to make sure that the storage heaters are programmed correctly.

Similarly, you need to make sure that the immersion heater is only using the off peak supply.  If there are two immersion heaters, on at the bottom and one halfway up, make sure that the higher one (possibly marked Boost) is left permanently switched off.

There's no point in chasing Scottish Power (except to find a cheaper Economy 7 tariff or to arrange a payment plan) because everything downstream of the meter is simply not their problem.  Instead, you need to make sure the wiring is correct and that you fully understand what should be switched on, what should be switched off and how the NSHs are programmed.

Robin9

When did you move in?   Who was the supplier when you moved in ? Did you give that supplier your meter readings ? Did you then move to SP ?  Have you been reading the meter monthly and giving those reads to SP ?


As others have said  the internal wiring of your property is nothing to do with SP.   You need to talk to the HA.


PS Can you give us a copy of your meter readings for both the off peak and one from the on peak  please - one from about 12 months ago but that read must have the letter A for actual (if its E it means its Estimated - hopefully your readings aren't) - and one from today please. And what is your tariff ?

dmfrs3666

Yes I have 2 metre readings , I am aware now that its a subcontractor responsible for the wiring , any liability will be down to my landlord or Sub contractor . My point is , for 18 months my metre readings are incorrect , miscalculated etc . £139 a month is a lot money from universal credit . The electrician today said he has never seen this before .. There is a cable clearly marked off peak , goes in wrong box , there is a box missing , who ever did wiring was either incompetent or lazy . Just trying find any one with advice , who has ever experienced this etc .
thanks 

QrizB

dmfrs3666 said:

Yes I have 2 metre readings , I am aware now that its a subcontractor responsible for the wiring , any liability will be down to my landlord or Sub contractor . My point is , for 18 months my metre readings are incorrect , miscalculated etc

Your meter readings have been correct. Your installation was at fault.

Exactly what have your meter readings been over the last 18 months? Do they show that you were using lots of peak electricity but hardly any off-peak? Could you tell us some of your readings?

dmfrs3666 said:

The electrician today said he has never seen this before .. There is a cable clearly marked off peak , goes in wrong box , there is a box missing , who ever did wiring was either incompetent or lazy . Just trying find any one with advice , who has ever experienced this etc.

I've had landlord disputes in the distant past. Speak to your landlord (Housing Association) first, explain what you've told us and (if needs be) tell them to speak to their own electrician for confirmation. They might be reasonable about it.

If you don't get any luck, try Citizen's Advice, they have experience dealing with HAs.

Gerry1

Much more info please: your descriptions aren't sufficiently precise.  Make and model?

In particular, 'two switches' is unclear: do you mean that each heater has two cables feeding it?  Or that each heater has two switches built in to it?

A few photos would be worth a thousand words !