Scottish Power refusing to attend to faulty meter

Scot_39

Scottish (or should I say Spanish - as retail at least owned by Iberdrola) Power was an awful company to deal with when I was administering my parents accounts under POA (out of some misplaced loyalty they never wanted me to switch from the old guard - SP for leccy, SG for gas).

Seems they havent got any better in last several years.

If your credit has lasted longer than expected the meter might be toast - and locked - in your case - on supply.

Or may be busily running down emergency credit to - which in theory should be automatic especially if on PSR.

As smart meter "self disconnections" - out of credit - happen very regularly - over 2m in year to Q2 2026 - nearly 200,000 per month - over 1/2 milion per quarter - and thats lower than 2023/2024 levels in Ofgem stats.

And if on PSR - they suppliers should be again protecting you more from that risk.

As long as you have reported the fault - its now sadly in the suppliers hands.

If a complaint already filed - you cannot escalate to Ombudsman for 8 weeks.

Sadly - it looks as if the front line CS - is letting you down - so once fixed - take the hint - and move supplier to one with a better CS reputation.

One such table - Citizens advice (likely others too)

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/get-a-better-energy-deal/compare-domestic-energy-suppliers-customer-service/

SP 12th of 16.

Scot_39

Oh and re medicine - if also have a freezer - make some ice - or freeze ice packs if have them - and transfer to the fridge in bowls / trays etc - to try and keep innards as cool for as long as possible. And minimise opening the doors.

Swipe

The electricity will not go off 👍

Thousands of meters like that, with lots of people not wanting them changed as they are on free electricity.

In that case, if it's still not run out after a few weeks (assuming it should have done so by then) I'd play them at their own game and never chase the complaint you've raised. Let them fob you off again and close the ticket down. You now have the evidence that you tried to get it resolved which fell on deaf ears through no fault of your own.

imeach

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82191049#Comment_82191049

That's the idea 👍👍👍

WiserMiser

Make sure you keep a mobile phone fully charged up. If you rely on a landline you'll probably find that it won't work when your PAYG meter says No.

If your landline still works without mains power now, it won't do so after next January. Many people will discover this the hard way when they try to dial 999 because of illness or accident. Worst of all, they may also find out that their mobile coverage is knocked out by a power cut because there's no requirement for battery backup.

Scot_39

vulnerable on digital voice should get the 1hr ups option.

the problem with mobiles is your battery may last days - yiur local cell tower might not last even 1 hr.

as of last year - only 20% of masts would last 1 hr (but Ofcom claims 66% could still get a signal). Only 5% would last 6 hrs.

Apparently 1 hr covers a majority of uk homes who suffer short power dips - at least in urban area outages - thwre was a stat at one stsge - not much more than 10m for ave power loss in city based on London.

Govts and ofcom have been warned of the issues for years and done nothing to really toughen up mobile networks outage resillience - ladt years Ofcom forecast costs in £bns. Cannot remeber numbers - banded £s for x hours per tower. There was another rural MP spat with those in charfe in last month reported in news.

Stronger rules - some just guidelines - came in this year on network resiliience - not sure any hard targets for individual towers, but were for mobile backbone iirc.

If rural and subject to long outages in past - and worried - satalite phone or satalite capable top end mobile ?? Only person i know with one is a professional walk tour guide who does UK and European tours

CurlySue2017

Thank you everyone for your advice / comments, to update…..

I managed to find an e-mail address for the CEO so I sent my details and asked for a response. The next day I got a call from a 'specialist' who ran through everything with me and this person will now be handling the case themselves and keeping me updated.

We do now have to have the meter replaced with a smart meter (ugh, but ok) so that is scheduled for a couple of weeks time. They have also confirmed that the only charges we will be responsible for are any standing charges, any electricity used will basically be free until the new meter is installed.

I don't have a landline, haven't for many years now so the mobile is always charged in any case, not that it will work with no wi-fi…..we are in a bit of a dead spot where mobile data is concerned, so no wi-fi, no phone unfortunately unless I walk about 10 minutes down the road.

Swipe

The next day I got a call from a 'specialist' who ran through everything with me and this person will now be handling the case themselves and keeping me updated.

That's great news. I'd also make as a condition of the complaint that the two advisers you previously spoke to are sent for retraining.