Taking Scottish Power to court

_Matt07

Hi,
**UPDATED ENTRY - MISSED A FEW WORDS OUT IN THE ORIGINAL**
I'm after some advice - I am looking at taking Scottish power to court, I've bulleted the issue below:

• I moved into a property at the start of 2018 which had a three-rate meter installed, this was incorrect as the house was not set up for a three-rate meter, I requested a change to a single-rate meter.
• After much toing and froing Scottish Power (SP) said I was correct.
• Fast forward to June 2022 - Meter has still not been changed.
• Billing price per unit for a three-rate meter was 2.5 times higher in 2018 than for a single-rate meter - this parity was pretty much maintained until the recent surge in prices.. I was promised by SP that a new meter would be installed and a new Bill would be recalculated, neither was done.
• For example; a £497 annual bill on single rate equates to roughly £1,245 on a three-rate.
• SP have now threatened to enter my home and remove items.
• I engaged the Ombudsman who found in my favour - twice.
• SP have still not amended the bills as told to do so by the Ombudsman but are now pursuing for the full three-rate meter bill.
• Due to SP not exchanging the meter I have also been unable to select and lock into a decent deal ahead of the April 2022 rise.
• After four and a half years I feel they have had sufficient time to rectify the matter so I am considering court action.
• Has anyone been successful against SP with a similar situation?

welshmoneylover

Couldn’t you have changed to another provider who would have changed the meter for you shortly after moving in?

_Matt07

Nope. Tried that. No one wants to remove SP 3-rate meters.

Mstty

After all this time have you not raised a complaint then gone to the ombudsman for a decision?

Edit re read 

Well it does seem you have to go to court.

pochase

Maybe you can explain why there would be a three time higher invoice just because you a 3-rate meter.

For users on E7 meters the supplier will often just ask for meter readings for day and night and bill the sum at single rate. That should also be possible for a 3-rate meter.

What is SP charging that would result in three times higher bills?

GunJack

Mstty said:

After all this time have you not raised a complaint then gone to the ombudsman for a decision?

That is the next steps before going directly to court

according to the \OP the ombudsman has twice ruled in their favour...

MattMattMattUK

Working through everything might help a little. 

_Matt07 said:

• I moved into a property at the start of 2018 which had a three-rate meter installed, this was incorrect as the house was not set up for a three-rate meter, I requested a change to a single-rate meter.
• After much toing and froing Scottish Power (SP) said I was correct.
  

What did they say you were correct about?

_Matt07 said:

• Billing price per unit for a three-rate meter was 2.5 times higher in 2018 than for a single-rate meter - this parity was pretty much maintained until the recent surge in prices.. I was promised by SP that a new meter would be installed and a new Bill would be recalculated, neither was done.
• For example; a £497 annual bill on single rate equates to roughly £1,245 on a three-rate.
  

This seems odd in itself, what tariff are you on and have you looked at changing tariff, rather than just focusing on the meter? What is their response when you have asked them to recalculate the bill?

_Matt07 said:

• SP have now threatened to enter my home and remove items.
  

How exactly have they done this? They would need a court order to sieze property, have they obtained one? Also, and perhaps more importantly, have you refused to pay the bills in the interim? I am wondering if that might be part of the problem as they see you in debt and refusing to pay.

_Matt07 said:

• I engaged the Ombudsman who found in my favour - twice.
• SP have still not amended the bills as told to do so by the Ombudsman but are now pursuing for the full three-rate meter bill.
  

What were the Ombudsman's rulings, to amend/recalculate the bill and on what basis? To replace the meter?

_Matt07 said:

• Due to SP not exchanging the meter I have also been unable to select and lock into a decent deal ahead of the April 2022 rise.
  

Slightly irrelevant, it is a bit of a "what if" situation, especially as by the time it became clear what was going to happen in April 2022 the fixes were higher than the SVR.

_Matt07 said:

• After four and a half years I feel they have had sufficient time to rectify the matter so I am considering court action.

I agree that they have had sufficient time to rectify the issue, but I am not sure on what basis you could actually take court action. 

Have you spoke to the Ombudsman again, as well as asked Scottish Power why they are not complying with the Ombudsman's decision? If Scottish Power have "threatened to enter my home and remove items", have they already taken you to court to obtain a CCJ and then taken subsequent enforcement action on top of that (warrant of entry, escalated to the High Court)? Did you defend yourself in court if they have taken action?

Have you had any response to why they are not replacing the meter, recalculating the bill or complying with the ombudsman's decisions? 

Finally I would recommend trying to get the media involved, you could also try contacting the press department yourself. Sometimes it is amazing what the thread of negative publicity in the national press can do to resolve a situation. 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/series/yourproblems
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/zoewood