Estimated usage on day of price cap change

ac905

I’m on a standard variable tariff with Scottish Power and pay by monthly direct debit based on quarterly billing cycle with a smart meter.

My latest statement is based on 31st Jan to 22nd April which crosses the point at which the price cap changed. On my latest bill they have used an estimated reading for 31st March to determine the split of my energy usage before and after the price change whilst using actual readings for the 31st Jan and 22nd April. 

I was emailed on the 1st April telling me not to submit a reading as I have a smart meter and wouldn’t need to.

I’ve spoken to Scottish Power and they won’t agree that their bill is inaccurate. I believe my energy usage has changed since 1st April (not using the heating at all) and that by using an estimate the way they have, they are over charging me for April where the unit price is higher and under charging me for Feb and Mar where unit pricing is lower.

Despite having a smart meter they said they don’t have a reading for 31st March. 

I doubt I’m owed much money and I’m not that fussed about the money but it’s more the principal of assuming my energy usage on the price change day when they should have access to accurate data. 

Has anyone else had something similar? This feels like a shady practice to me. 

TheMilkmansDad

I know hindsight is a wonderful thing - but did you take your own reading anyway? With Smart meters, can you not log in and see what the reading was on a specific date?

Is there a reason you think their estimate is inaccurate.

Robin9

@ac905   Is your Smart meter actually working in Smart mode ?    Other than March 31  do the meter reads on your bill say "Our Read"

pochase

How did they split? Did they just divide by the number of days and assigned the used energy this way, in which case they really are far off due to different use in April to the real winter months?

As above, do you have access to the data, from their web site, your IHD or from the bright app?

This is a reason to open a complaint, especially as they contacted you and asked not to submit a reading.

Gerry1

Yes, EDF are running a similar scam.

After their website crashed on 31 March, they set up a special webform so that you could submit the 31 March reading and have it applied to that date.  They allowed very little time for this, only until 3 April.  It didn't work: they still applied the reading to 1st April and overcharged by using a lower estimate for 31 March.

When I complained, they offered a goodwill payment that was slightly higher than the overcharge, even quoting a reference number. Needless to say it hasn't materialised, and there's even been an unexplained debit allegedly resulting from the SoLR from Zog.

Off to the Ombudsman soon !

ac905

Thank you for responses. 

My smart meter is working correctly and the actuals on the bill state they have been read.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a reading on the day as wasn’t here but felt assured given they emailed everyone telling them not to bother submitting if they had a smart meter.

Iv’e just threatened to escalate my complaint to stage 3 and they have now said they are reissuing my bill with the daily readings from my smart meter so looks like they do have the data after all. Will see what that shows in 48 hours when I get it. It’s a complete 180 from what they were telling me yesterday.

I’m not sure how they get away with this behaviour in a regulated industry, particularly when there is so much scrutiny regarding price cap!

Gerry1

ac905 said:

I’m not sure how they get away with this behaviour in a regulated industry, particularly when there is so much scrutiny regarding price cap!

Ofgem the so-called regulator is absolutely useless, as Citizens Advice recently noted.

MWT

ac905 said:

I’m not sure how they get away with this behaviour in a regulated industry, particularly when there is so much scrutiny regarding price cap!

How do you have your data preferences set for your smart meter?

If you've limited them to monthly then they may actually not have had a reading for that day until you complained about...

In any event they should have been more specific when telling you that they didn't need a meter reading, if there was a reason why they wouldn't have normally been able to access that data.

Hocine

Hi, the same issue happened to me with SSE, where I do have a smart meter and my previous bills have been on Smart meter readings, apart from the bill that spans during the price cap change where SSE used an estimated readings!
For the period: 23 February 2022 to 19 April 2022
Dated: 20 April 2022

Gas Unrestricted kWh 2599 2865[E]

i find this very suspicious.

I did however (in my case) submitted a manual reading on 31st March 2022 using the SSE website (and took digital photos as a proof).

However, the bills for both Gas and Electricity have used estimated readings for the bill.

I worked out the price difference and it is about £60 due the lower reading they made.

I have not managed to rectify this yet and this is proving very complicated as my SSE account has been moved to OVO Energy during the same period and I am being sent between SSE and OVO each asking for the other to rectify the reading.