Energy Ombudsman's final decision based on wrong calculation given by Scottish Power

Alex0857

On 25 Feb 2021 I received a final bill from Scottish Power saying that I owe them £833.54. I looked at the statement and noticed an error as it only showed i had paid £1,343.07 between July 2019 and February 2021, but my records and bank account show that I had paid a total of £1,948.66 between July 2019 and February 2021. The evidence shows that Scottish Power have overcharged me £605.59. I pointed out this error to Scottish Power but they never answered my query. They called from India to tell me that they never made mistake but failed to explained the shortfall of £605.59 from my payments shown in their final bill. I complained to customer services and no reply. I then complained to Energy Ombudsman and 6 months later Energy Ombudsman made a decision based on all my bank statements that Scottish Power owe me £605.59. Scottish Power then appealed the decision and today another staff from Energy Ombudsman override the initial decision and concluded final decision that Scottish Power do not owe me anything. He made this decision based on the figure £833.54 that given by Scottish Power but he is missing the point of my complaint about the figure £833.54 is calculated wrongly. He also argue about a sentence made by previous staff saying Scottish Power has been my supplier since 2014 as he thinks should be 2012 not 2014. The problem is this is nothing to do with the final bill which wrongly stated that I had paid £1,343.07 between July 2019 and February 2021, the reality is that I had paid a total of £1,948.66  therefore I have been overcharged £605.59 as shown in evidence. I am shocked to see someone called himself Senior Investigation Officer at Energy Ombudsman made such an obvious mistake and I have no single chance to voice my opinion. 

What can I do now?  Thank you

QrizB

If you want to pursue this further, I think your only option is to take them to court (or let them take you to court):

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Do speak to your solicitor (if you have one) or your local Citizen's Advice rather than taking advice from a random person on the internet!

[Deleted User]

Alex0857 said:

On 25 Feb 2021 I received a final bill from Scottish Power saying that I owe them £833.54. I looked at the statement and noticed an error as it only showed i had paid £1,343.07 between July 2019 and February 2021, but my records and bank account show that I had paid a total of £1,948.66 between July 2019 and February 2021. The evidence shows that Scottish Power have overcharged me £605.59. I pointed out this error to Scottish Power but they never answered my query. They called from India to tell me that they never made mistake but failed to explained the shortfall of £605.59 from my payments shown in their final bill. I complained to customer services and no reply. I then complained to Energy Ombudsman and 6 months later Energy Ombudsman made a decision based on all my bank statements that Scottish Power owe me £605.59. Scottish Power then appealed the decision and today another staff from Energy Ombudsman override the initial decision and concluded final decision that Scottish Power do not owe me anything. He made this decision based on the figure £833.54 that given by Scottish Power but he is missing the point of my complaint about the figure £833.54 is calculated wrongly. He also argue about a sentence made by previous staff saying Scottish Power has been my supplier since 2014 as he thinks should be 2012 not 2014. The problem is this is nothing to do with the final bill which wrongly stated that I had paid £1,343.07 between July 2019 and February 2021, the reality is that I had paid a total of £1,948.66  therefore I have been overcharged £605.59 as shown in evidence. I am shocked to see someone called himself Senior Investigation Officer at Energy Ombudsman made such an obvious mistake and I have no single chance to voice my opinion. 

What can I do now?  Thank you

If a supplier has provided The EO with further information then it is only fair, in my view, that The EO offers you, the complainant, the time and the opportunity to provide further information to counter the Final Decision. Personally, I would invoke The EO Complaints Procedure. The reviewing officer will then determine whether or not the investigating officer has followed their own internal procedures.

How do I complain about the energy ombudsman service?

Contact

1. Energy Ombudsman complaints form or call 0330 440 1624.

ihatetrump

There's clearly a difference between your own records of payments and SP's records.

Have you asked SP to provide you with a full account statement of your account for the period that you have been with them? I am sure they will be able to provide this for you.

When you receive it, u should be able to agree their record of receipts from you with your own bank payments. From what you're saying there must be a payment or payments that they have not applied to your account, or there is are invoices from them that you have not paid. 

The EO will have relied on the records from SP to make his decision and will not have seen your records. If you can identify what is missing, then you will have a good starting point to either agree or disagree with their records.

If you have made payments that SP are not showing on your account, then SP will most probably have them in what is most called an 'unallocated receipts or suspense account' - if that's the case, they should be able to find them and move them back to your account.

You'll need to go through this process if you're going to take this further.

Good luck.

[Deleted User]

ihatetrump said:

There's clearly a difference between your own records of payments and SP's records.

Have you asked SP to provide you with a full account statement of your account for the period that you have been with them? I am sure they will be able to provide this for you.

When you receive it, u should be able to agree their record of receipts from you with your own bank payments. From what you're saying there must be a payment or payments that they have not applied to your account, or there is are invoices from them that you have not paid. 

The EO will have relied on the records from SP to make his decision and will not have seen your records. If you can identify what is missing, then you will have a good starting point to either agree or disagree with their records.

If you have made payments that SP are not showing on your account, then SP will most probably have them in what is most called an 'unallocated receipts or suspense account' - if that's the case, they should be able to find them and move them back to your account.

You'll need to go through this process if you're going to take this further.

Good luck.

Subject Access requests can take weeks. Sadly, The EO system is fundamentally flawed in that the complainant never gets to see the evidence that the supplier provides. 

The EO system implies that there has been some form of investigation: the truth is that it is nothing more than an arbitration service that reviews the evidence that it is presented with by both parties. You will gather than I am not a great fan. I have referred three complaints to The EO over the years. On two occasions, I had to invoke The EO Complaints Process and I won both complaints on the basis that The ‘Investigating’ Officer had failed to comply with The EO’s own internal procedures.

ihatetrump

@[Deleted User]

Agree entirely with your comments - but surely it shouldn't need an SAR just to get an account statement with payment history? I wouldn't be surprised if they simply haven't credited a payment or payments made by the OP

[Deleted User]

ihatetrump said:

@[Deleted User]

Agree entirely with your comments - but surely it shouldn't need an SAR just to get an account statement with payment history? I wouldn't be surprised if they simply haven't credited a payment or payments made by the OP

As all consumers have access to their statements, then I would assume that this evidence was provided as part of any complaint? What the OP really needs to see is the evidence file that SP submitted to The EO plus any material that it submitted to counter The Final Decision.

Bendo

I'd stop wasting your time with the ombudsman. Put it in writing clearly explaining to the error giving them 30 days to send an accurate final bill and send it to their registered office. If they don't sort it or show that they are in the process of sorting it, follow up with a letter before claim which should get their attention. Just be prepared to take them to small claims.

[Deleted User]

Bendo said:

I'd stop wasting your time with the ombudsman. Put it in writing clearly explaining to the error giving them 30 days to send an accurate final bill and send it to their registered office. If they don't sort it or show that they are in the process of sorting it, follow up with a letter before claim which should get their attention. Just be prepared to take them to small claims.

That is great advice; however, .....  When any Court proceedings are taken out either the supplier or the consumer can use The EO's Final Decision in support of its case. The consumer has the right to reject a Final Decision but that effectively kills dead the complaint against the supplier.

Alex0857

[Deleted User] said:

ihatetrump said:

@[Deleted User]

Agree entirely with your comments - but surely it shouldn't need an SAR just to get an account statement with payment history? I wouldn't be surprised if they simply haven't credited a payment or payments made by the OP

As all consumers have access to their statements, then I would assume that this evidence was provided as part of any complaint? What the OP really needs to see is the evidence file that SP submitted to The EO plus any material that it submitted to counter The Final Decision.

Thanks for comments. Yes monthly direct debit payments from my bank statements match with SP account records showing I had paid a total of £1,948.66 between July 2019 and February 2021. The problem is SP's bill of 25 Feb 2021 simply put a lump sum of £1,343.07 for the same period and this is what I have been questioning SP. I asked SP to provide breakdown of this £1,343.07 but they failed to supply. The first Officer in EO checked all the documents and agreed with me. But the second Officer who overturned the first decision did not actually looked at my point of complaint, my point of complaint is £1,948.66 should be my actual payments to SP from 2019 to 2021 instead of £1,343.07 that stated in their final bill which has no breakdown/ explanation/ substantiation. I can see the spreadsheet provided by SP for the second officer is wrong because the spreadsheet uses the wrong figure of  £1,343.07. It looks to me that the second Officer was rushing at last minute deadline last evening and totally missed the point of my complaint. He said the first officer made wrong statement about the historical records back to 2014 and 2012 which is totally not relevant to my query about missing payments between 2019 to 2021. The simple calculation mistake is so obvious but he overlooked it. I don't know if this is a genuine overlook which means this second Officer is incompetent or there are other personal reasons behind his unsubstantiated final decision like racism or corruption. Thank you

[Deleted User]

@Alex0857  Make a complaint against The Energy Ombudsman Service. At the very least they owe you an explanation as to why the points that you have raised have been ignored? I would gently point out that their credibility as an arbitration service is in doubt if they fail to consider ALL the relevant facts. You might even get some compensation for the Service's failings.