Atlantic G&E / Scottish Power mess

tgon

I've been a customer of Atlantic Gas & Electric for about 6 years and moved house in February 2008. I let Atlantic know of course and duly noted all meter readings and submitted online with a follow up call to make sure all was okay - all was it seemed. I hadn't realised until much later that it takes 28 days for the new accounts to kick in but thought my DD payments were still being taken so everything will work out.

The property I'm in now was previously served by Scottish Power for gas and electricity but I didnt know this at the time I moved in. A few months later I have received a huge bill from them for gas and a lesser one for electricity for the 28 days service where my accounts were being transferred. Penny dropped on the time it takes to change houses. So, can accept I owe Scottish Power money for 28 days service.

I immediately rung Scottish Power and disputed because:
1. I didnt know I was a customer of theirs untill I received the utility bills.
2. The readings were "actuals" even though the meters had never been read by them (being locked up in my garage and no one had called).
3. The meter serial numbers are not what they have on their records.

I rang Atlantic to get my submitted meter reading when we moved in but they had no record of them in spite of telling me otherwise at the time. They made retrospective calculations from readings 3 days apart and said they will notify Scottish Power, etc of my estimated meters at the time of moving in. Not happy but I'd not kept my bits of paper with my original scrawl.

I am happy to pay for what I owe but this lot has totally confused me. Scottish Power haven't got back to me with a resolution even after my prompting phone call and I'm not really happy the Atlantic seems to have messed up here in the first place and still taken my DD payments in that intervening 28 days. What a mess!