Scottish Power accidentally deleted then re-opened me a new account without permission

spsbiggestfan

The title is the very short of it, but in summary, I asked in December to change my tariff, they said there was an issue with my account that needed fixed first, and skip forward to now, and they managed to delete my account in error, set me up a new one, hard credit check me again in the process even though they told me that wouldn't happen, and a whole lot else. Looking for advice on if I am doing as much as I could be, or if I should be escalating this further:

Chronologically:

-Live Chat - Early December ask SP to change to a new tariff. they say theres an issue and they're opening a service request, and to try again in 30 days.

-Live Chat - 30 days later I check in, and they're like no actually that's still not done, try again in 45 more days maybe. I ask about compensation because the new tariff is significantly cheaper for my usage, and it's not my fault I cant change, and they agree to £50 compensation

-Live Chat - 2 weeks later, nothing has happened, so I check in on the compensation, and the tariff change issue. They tell me the compensation was never processed, neither was the tariff change issue.

-Email - Because of the above I raise a complaint, summarise everything that has and hasn't happened so far, and ask for it all to be resolved asap. I'm told they're dealing with it

I then get emails telling me that my new account has been created. And when I try and log into my old account it no longer works, but the cached login on my app shows that half of my energy usage is now missing going back to last year. It also says I don't have any valid tariff.

-Email - I ask what is going on, and they tell me they accidentally deleted my account, and it was easier to just create me a new one, no worries, its all fixed now, thanks bye.

-Email - I send a raft of questions about the implications of this, including overdue credit or debit from my last account, etc etc. And critically, if it is going to appear on my credit report as I wish to get a mortgage soon and I dont want any added faff with that due to their errors. I send 7 very specific questions. They reply "oh yeah its all fine, it wont affect your credit score. you have £80 leftover in credit from your old account, do you want that moved to your new account?"

At this point, I didn't know it yet, but as guessed they already HAD done a hard credit search on my report, so their "it wont affect your credit score" thing was demonstrably false at the time

-Email - I'm like yeah okay so, obviously I want that £80 moved to my new account, why would that even be a question but….can you answer all of my other concerns?

They replied, and I quote:

"Could you please read the emails I sent to you carefully and with understanding?"

-Email - I request escalation to a manager, chase this a few times, etc. It's now been 12 days since I had any actual update, I just keep being told that it's complicated and they're working on it.

In fact the only solid updates i've had since then is an email telling me that I owe SP £200 in debit from my now closed account and they'll be taking that out shortly (what happened to £80 in credit???) and my new direct debit has been setup, and that will also be taken out shortly! So my quest to reduce costs is going to result in me almost certainly paying double or triple my usual energy bill this month!

Feels like a monumental ballsup that i should be able to push much harder on, but I'm not sure how besides just emailing this apparent manager and asking for them to do something already.

born_again

Hard credit check from a energy co will have no effect on getting a mortgage.

What are the readings they are using for closing of old account & opening of new one, as in reality you know what it was on last bill (hope not estimated) & what it will be on next bill.

Your £80 credit is going to depend on if the previous bills are actual readings or estimated.

MWT

And critically, if it is going to appear on my credit report as I wish to get a mortgage soon and I dont want any added faff with that due to their errors.

A hard credit check for an energy account is not likely to cause you any issues with a mortgage application, the lenders do not see the synthetic score that the agencies show to the public and the lenders do their own scoring based on the actual events on your credit record and they are going to be more interested in any late payments or loan companies doing hard checks than an energy credit check.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6654829/scottish-power-accidentally-deleted-then-re-opened-me-a-new-account-without-permission

I really cannot see what you are having such an issue with, or what you want to "push much harder" for.

Your previous bills may have been billed on estimates rather than actual reads, you need to check you have been correctly billed, but beyond that it seems to be a huge over reaction, a hard check will not cause any issues, credit scores are made up and meaningless.

spsbiggestfan

I have a smart meter so I would assume and hope this has been recorded back to them accordingly, but I don't have access to my final energy statement to prove what my readings last were either way, as the pdf link that was sent to me in December has now expired, and I can no longer log into that original account to get a copy from my inbox/historical records, so I'm going off their word as to what the standing was. This is one of the questions I asked. What about all of my historical information etc. Is that going to be present on my new account or not? Historical bills and or energy usage? Everything I've seen so far seems to suggest my new account is 100% new. I've even received emails telling me when my energy is going to switch over which is fun.

Their "final bill" that they sent me does include readings, so I can check them against my actual meter in that regard, but it's mostly based on the fact that they originally said my account was in credit (which is what I recall), and then their automated system told me my final bill would leave me in debit, so i don't have any solid way to argue that one way or another.

Good to know about the credit check not really making any difference though, that is re-assuring to hear from everybody. I would disagree on "i want to change my tariff" → "oops we deleted your account lol" being a strictly huge overreaction but maybe that's just me

WiserMiser

You can see why the Guardian says Scottish Power is the worst supplier.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jan/19/scottish-power-ranked-uk-worst-supplier-customer-service-which

Submit a formal written complaint. Ask for £200 compo for all the aggro and wasted time, settle for £100. They'll never improve if bad service has no consequences. Go to the Ombudsman if they don't agree.

Then vote with your feet when you can leave without exit fees.

WiserMiser

If you're missing any info because you can't access the old account, submit a Subject Access Request to that effect.

EssexHebridean

Taking into account that the hard search isn't going to have any effect on your mortgage application, what are your actual losses here?

Scottish Power are shockingly awful - they are pretty close to the top of my bargepole list. The most effective thing you could do would be to vote with your feet and walk.