Scottish Power Defaulted My Account For Estimated Readings

robertow88

Hi All - Its no suprise I am having an absolute nightmare with Scottish Power - I will explain all in one hit and would love some feedback / guidance as I have had enough now.

- Back in 2018 I moved into my property which was a brand new build house I was the first owner. The Electric meter was a smart meter the gas was a classic meter. I paid my first bill with Scottish power Duel fuel account £596 - 2 weeks later they issued another bill for over £900 - I questioned this and they said that's what the electric meter was reading.

- Lengthy battle with them I refused to pay anymore until the meter was independently tested and  they sorted the issue out. This allegedly generated a bill of over £3,000 and on the bills the readings read "Actual reading 0" then the following month it would change to "Actual reading 159" then the month after "Actual reading 0" - You cant get a "0" reading for one although they argued this - they eventually came out changed the electric meter 3 years later had it tested and found it was reading incorrectly and they adjusted the bills accordingly and agreed the reading of 0 was incorrect - They installed another smart meter with the home display and at my request put me on Pay As You Go with an agreed amount towards the adjusted debt - So all good - I was topping up the electric and paying the debt back all perfect

- THEN out of nowhere they started sending me bills for circa £2,500 for Gas - However all the bills are estimate readings - I have been battling with them to get an accurate reading so 2 years ago their solution was that I would have to have a smart gas meter installed and it would be on the same home network as the electric I could pay as you go and pay back the debt - Perfect - HOWEVER - 5 meter changes later (none of them smart meters all just card where I have to go to the shop and top it up!!! and I had loads of problems) they eventually come out fit a smart meter but tell me they are having issues with it connecting to the home network and another engineer would need to come out. At this point the electric meter went off the home network so now I cannot use the home display I have to either manually check the electric meter on the side of the house for the balance Or wait for it to go off then top up through my phone app and then go out and manually type in the UTRN number into the meter. THE GAS meter although "smart" has never had its smart feature activated and continues to run as a traditional meter - BUT they are not collecting readings and keep on issuing ESTIMATE bills that now are at £3,500

- To Top things off - They said they would come out and sort everything out - 4 appointments where booked. 4 appointments where cancelled by Scottish Power and Sureserve

- This is where it gets crazy - They have now sent both Richburn and another solicitor company (I don't have their details to hand) to send me threatening letters about getting a warranty of entry for the £3,500 and taking the matter to court. They have also put a default on my credit file for £3,500 - BUT this figure is ESTIMATE - I asked the solicitor to send me an accurate bill because I know 100% all of the bills are estimated there is no accurate reading to which he replied back we can only legally chase you for the amount up to an accurate reading - 3 days after that conversation I was sent a bill from Scottish power for just £57.20 - However I have heard nothing more from the solicitor despite them saying they would update me and although they are sending me a bill of £57.20 which is still estimated - My account balance still shows £3,500 and the default remains on my credit file.




So...Sorry for all the war and peace - Do I take this matter to court myself? I have complained to Scottish power numerous times and told they will come and fix it and i hear nothing just cancelled appointments followed by more threatening letters for payment of an estimated balance.

Ombudsman where involved with the electric meter issue they where the ones who instructed an independent test but other than that where absolutely useless as it took over 9 months for them to get that result and they where simply just relaying messages between me and SP - They have said they wont get involved with gas I have to open a whole new complaint with them.

I am just exhausted by it - Gas is being used but I dont know how much. They wont come and fix the meter. They just say pay the £3,500 as I know I am using gas and anything over will be credited to my account! - I dont have £3,500 to pay out and I only want to pay for what I have used! Electric meter doesnt work as it should. I have 2 small children in the property and electric just goes off random and I have to top it up manually. If I am away working or on holiday everything in the fridge and freezer is binned when the electric goes off because I cannot top it up remotely. Its driving me mad and they are saying the electric issue is because of the gas issue but they wont fix the gas issue!

QrizB

Throughout all this, have you been taking regular meter readings yourself? What do those readings say about your energy consumption?

Ectophile

Check out Ofgem's back billing rules https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/check-energy-back-billing-rule. Do these apply in your case?  If so, you can get the bills for anything over a year ago written off.

Have you ever gone outside, read the two meters, and sent the readings to Scottish Power?  If not, why not?  If you send them actual meter readings, they can send you correct bills.