Scottish Power refuse to lower direct debit after paying off debt

markin

As you aren't on E7 / E10 just move, Octopus is the highest rated and if you can find a referral code from someone you both get £50 credit.

farangfarang

So I didn't move, I stuck with it because I wanted it resolved and I wanted them to pay (compensation) for their shortcomings. In May, after several more calls, DD was reduced from £397 to £200 "manually" with the caveat the system couldn't be corrected and I'd have to ring in again if it rises. I rang in as soon as the price cap lowered in July and was told I should be paying £397, £200 is wrong and they certainly wouldn't go lower. It's a complete mixed bag at Scottish Power, some agents are simply clueless.

I raised a director's complaint. This seems to have been deferred back down the chain and today I spoke with a complaints handler again. My usage estimate has been corrected on the back end. My DD based on the system's (now correct) estimations has dropped to £150.

I asked for compensation for the many, many hours spent on the phone, chat, the past 12 months this issue has been happening, doing the maths for them when no agent would look into my case, not being offered instalments for the debt (they told me they can spread it over up to 60 months) and instead it being taken in 6 months.

They said £75 was fair. I said I wanted £500. They came back with £250. I wasn't happy but they assured me the ombudsman was extremely unlikely to give me more and so I accepted.

Worth the £250? Not a chance. But I am glad the ordeal is over. I will of course be switching the moment the £250 hits my bank account.

wild666

If there is any debt owing then they are likely to refuse the move to a new supplier.

MeteredOut

farangfarang said:

They said £75 was fair. I said I wanted £500. They came back with £250. I wasn't happy but they assured me the ombudsman was extremely unlikely to give me more and so I accepted.

Worth the £250? Not a chance. But I am glad the ordeal is over. I will of course be switching the moment the £250 hits my bank account.

I've spent over a year arguing with EDF over a faulty gas meter (over-reading). The Ombudsman's interim decision has gone in my favour, but EDF have appealed on a technicality. I've had to do daily meter readings for a year, often multiple times a day, turning gas off at the meter outside the house (much to my family's ongoing annoyance) so I could prove the issue exists, setting up time-lapse photo rigs to provide evidence, email evidence to EDF, replying to EDF emails where they have just simply made things up, having phone calls with EDF etc etc etc. It was (and still is) a significant time-sink for me..

As part of their decision, I was awarded £100 by the Ombudsman for the inconvenience.

I'd grab the £250 with both hands. 

Chrysalis

farangfarang said:

Gerry1 said:

Seems the agent was wrong.

See Maria's comment at...

Spoke to a second agent today and unfortunately Scottish Power do not offer variable direct debit. At least not on the standard tarrifs.

I got a response from the complaints team. They explained my projected usage over 12 months was 28,000kwh gas and 5,800kwh electric and that for the second time in a week, they were raising my direct debit, not lowering it.

So I went over my bills for past 12 months and have used 8,200kwh gas and 4,100kwh electric. I phoned them up, broke down the bills again and had them cross reference on their end. They confirmed and said they'd ask the offline team to reduce my direct debit to £200 (instead of £420).

What this means is that since July 2022, I have been on direct debit amount that was completely unaffordable and very hard for me to pay. I was led to believe it was to pay off the debt quickly, which I accepted and paid off in 5 months, then multiple advisors kept gaslighting me into believing the numbers were correct and their figures were based on actual usage.

While I am glad they have finally manually reviewed my usage and the direct debit is being reduced, do I have an recourse for the hardship I've had to endure with the extremely high direct debit over the last 9 months, a direct result of their system error miscalculating my projected usage?

The software used for these projected usage is flawed sadly, and seems to be the cause of at least of the incorrect DD adjustments.

The best way out of that mess is moving to variable DD which of course you did try to do to be fair, thankfully you found a reasonable way forward with them.

Pescur

farangfarang said:

Gerry1 said:

Seems the agent was wrong.

See Maria's comment at...

Spoke to a second agent today and unfortunately Scottish Power do not offer variable direct debit. At least not on the standard tarrifs.

I got a response from the complaints team. They explained my projected usage over 12 months was 28,000kwh gas and 5,800kwh electric and that for the second time in a week, they were raising my direct debit, not lowering it.

So I went over my bills for past 12 months and have used 8,200kwh gas and 4,100kwh electric. I phoned them up, broke down the bills again and had them cross reference on their end. They confirmed and said they'd ask the offline team to reduce my direct debit to £200 (instead of £420).

What this means is that since July 2022, I have been on direct debit amount that was completely unaffordable and very hard for me to pay. I was led to believe it was to pay off the debt quickly, which I accepted and paid off in 5 months, then multiple advisors kept gaslighting me into believing the numbers were correct and their figures were based on actual usage.

While I am glad they have finally manually reviewed my usage and the direct debit is being reduced, do I have an recourse for the hardship I've had to endure with the extremely high direct debit over the last 9 months, a direct result of their system error miscalculating my projected usage?

I was under the impression that they were legally obliged to offer this, many reps try to avoid but if you raise a complaint and they refuse ask for a deadlock letter and involve the energy ombudsman, this will at least cost them around £450.  Even if they do not offer it by policy make the complaint saying that they are being unreasonable by NOT offering it (if they don't).  Many suppliers are trying to use these as a way to force you to have a smart meter, this is not necessary.  You can't be forced to have a smart meter, just provide reads, get their app or have them email you reminder to submit your reads.

Once you get your decision from ombudsman change supplier to a supplier that offers a variable direct debit where you pay for what you use, Shell and others seem to offer it.  Also remember who is the boss here, it is your direct debit and you can tell the supplier what you allow, as long as it is not ridiculous. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/12/fed-up-with-unfair-energy-direct-debits--can-you-switch-to-varia/

Also, I gather you can only be held liable for energy used in the last 12 months if they do not have proper reads, they have an obligation to do reads at least every two years. So work out your real usage based on previous years, if you can make a case that the under billing was for more than a year then you can require them to only have charged you for the year. 1000 kwh excess sounds huge considering they were estimating and estimates are usually over use (for me anyway).  If they won't agree then ask for a written basis for their calculations and if they won't play ball then that is a separate complaint you need a deadlock letter for and another £400+ cost to them.

QrizB

Pescur said:

I was under the impression that they were legally obliged to offer this,

They are not.

Pescur said:

You can't be forced to have a smart meter

Yes, you can.

Pescur said:

Also, I gather you can only be held liable for energy used in the last 12 months if they do not have proper reads

That is not how back billing works.

Pescur said:

So work out your real usage based on previous years, if you can make a case that the under billing was for more than a year then you can require them to only have charged you for the year.

That is not how back billing works either.

Pescur said:

1000 kwh excess sounds huge

1000kWh of electricity is worth less than £350 for customer on a single rate SVT. It isnt huge.

[Deleted User]

Also, I gather you can only be held liable for energy used in the last 12 months if they do not have proper reads, they have an obligation to do reads at least every two years. So work out your real usage based on previous years, if you can make a case that the under billing was for more than a year then you can require them to only have charged you for the year. 1000 kwh excess sounds huge considering they were estimating and estimates are usually over use (for me anyway).  If they won't agree then ask for a written basis for their calculations and if they won't play ball then that is a separate complaint you need a deadlock letter for and another £400+ cost to them.

The requirement for suppliers to read meters at least once every 2 years was removed from the Supply Licence some years ago. The supplier now only has to obtain a meter reading once every 12 months. This can be a smart meter reading; an industry meter reading or a meter reading provided the customer.