Scottish Power Puns

Just like the heading said - Scottish Power have just quoted me an increase to £130/ month for gas and electricity for a flat with 4 people. Even though over the last two months we’ve stopped using heating? Increase of £32/ month.

Two people working out with the home - so not in the house 8+ hours, 5days/ week (if not more). Other two are wfh.

I can’t currently compare other other providers because all the comparison websites seem to think electricity is not attached to my flat 🤷🏻‍♀️

Any advice/ just a ‘absolutely ridiculous’ much appreciated!

Hi, I’m struggling to get any help from Scottish power and was wondering if anyone else had had a similar experience/what they did about it.

So for context I moved into a flat with two others in July of last year and signed up with Yorkshire energy. When they went bust towards the end of the year we were automatically allocated to Scottish power. Like many, we waited months for our account to be set up.

When it finally was, I opened the online portal and saw there was two account numbers under my name. I thought this must be a mistake so I only submitted meter readings and payments to the acct number from the letters I’d received. I never so much as touched the other one (should have investigated this yes but I was naive). Paid all our bills fine, no problems.

Then, just over a month ago we had a man from Morrison’s data collection ask to look at our meter. I let him in after seeing his ID (my bad I know but I didn’t know if I should have turned him away at the time) and he looked at it and left.

Not long after we received a letter from Scottish power, under the second account number, saying we owed over £300. As I looked at the online portal I realised the meter listed was not the same serial number as the one we were using but an old one that was still mounted on our wall but clearly unused with a blank screen and no wires connecting it. So what this man had done was record a number from the working meter under the wrong serial number and also mistyped it so we ended up with a hefty bill.

I have been in contact with Scottish power many many times over the past weeks and it has gotten to the point where the bill has automatically been transferred to a debt collection agency. They asked me to email pictures of the meters which I have done (multiple times) but they take about 3-5 days to reply. In the meantime I’m being called multiple times a day by both companies, which I am ignoring because I have explained this so many times already. Plus when I have spoken to them I just get passed around because none of their departments talk to each other.

Needless to say this is very draining and stressful and I have other things in my life going on to worry about. Has anyone been in the same boat or have any advice? I don’t really know what to do at this point.

TL;DR Scottish power and an external data agency screwed up and are trying to charge me £300 for the privilege and are impossible to talk to.

TLDR: Scottish Power is chasing us for £2500 electricity costs from 2017. The tenant after us submitted backdated meter readings in 2019 for 2017 which has caused the late chasing.

Background:

Between 2015 and 2017 we rented a place where we paid £77 a month direct debit until we moved to another house.

In 2019 we were contacted out of the blue by a debt collection company used by Scottish Power who said we owed £2100 plus £400 admin fee. We queried the claims with Scottish Power who eventually said it was likely an error and would be sent back to the landlord.

In November 2020 we were sent letters by another debt collection company who again said we owed £2500. We eventually managed to get the chasing put on hold while Scottish Power investigated as I raised a resolver enquiry.

I had a call yesterday with someone who said the tenant after us (presumably the landlord) had pictures of the meters when they moved in as evidence. When I queried this as to why we weren't contacted in 2017 they said the images and meter readings were not submitted until 2019 - two years after we had left.

Scottish Power have given me a week to find evidence such as images of meter readings but I don't have anything like that. I'm confident we wouldn't have used that much energy as the house was 50 m2 and two of us were hardly home but at this point don't have any contrary evidence.

Other than paying £2500, what can I do to get Scottish Power to stop chasing me?

Any help appreciated as this is a scary amount of money to be chased for and we are unsure what we can do

Scottish power says they haven't had a payment for 5 years, they are charging me extra each week due to this "debt".

This happened in 2019, had to go through massive drama with them to show I was actually paying, they say they will send out paper work to show it was their issue, they never do and they endlessly say they will contact me back, it gets sorted.

Then again in 2020 it happens, same story, you haven't been paying us, so here is huge debt.

Now it has happened again but it is going back to 2013 now, since 2019 I have kept all the receipts so I can prove I have been purchasing gas and electricity on my key and card.

It is a pay as you go meter just to say...so how they think i'm not paying for the stuff I use I don't know.

Any thoughts? they never send paper work to say "We messed up, you are correct" They never call back and it is always mentally tiring drama and endless phonecalls each year so far.

Hello everyone!

I've been reading through everyone's experience with various energy suppliers and I've been quite astounded by some very negative experiences

I'm considering changing to either E.ON or Scottish Power

EON offers me the cheapest deal over the year (via direct debit) and Scottish Power is £150 more expensive but allows me to pay cash monthly

I normally pay cash on a monthly basis (this allows me to monitor my usage closely - in case of any surprising charges)

I've looked on various price compare webpages and EON gives me the best deal - although it asks for monthly direct debits. My point of view is that companies are much more likely to overcharge you to ensure that they are covering their backsides. I know that overall this balances out throughout the year - but just the thought of any issues and having to walk through the landmine of dealing with these energy companies gives me a migraine already!

But my main concern is that if I do get overcharged as such via my direct debit, has anyone had any bad experiences in which they were underusing their monthly payment but this wasnt credited into their account or miscalculated?

Am I better off just paying for what I use as a monthly payment?

Thank you so much to anyone taking the time to respond!!

TLDR: EON VS Scottish Power? Direct Debits Vs Monthly Payment

Hey guys

This is my first post, so I hope I get it right.

I'm in England.

I will first give a bit of history.

I changed energy suppliers in November 2020.

I provided final meter reading on 9th November 2020

10th November 2020 - Final gas bill £51.63 credit 17th November 2020 - Final electric bill £19.64 credit.

19th November 2020 - Received refund £71.27

On the 26th March 2021, they took £27 via Direct Debit. As I am no longer a customer, and I'd not received a bill, I asked the bank to return the payment, as it was unauthorised.

6th April 2021 - Email saying sorry you're leaving, your electricity balance is 0 so no further action.

7th April - Your bill from 30th November - 1st April 2021 is £353.80

8th April - Your bill from 28th September - 8th November 2020 is £345.47. They tried taking this on the 23rd April but couldn't have it as I'd cancelled their Direct Debit (I am no longer their customer and also they tried taking £27).

I called them and asked for an explanation.

The first call lasted for over an hour, and they couldn't work out what was going on. They also didn't know why they tried taking the £27. He eventually just hung up on me.

Second call lasted no more than 10 minutes. She hung up after I objected to being accused of lying about the emails I'd received. (Did not swear, or raise my voice).

Third call lasted no more than 5 minutes. I asked to speak to customer services or a manager. She said there was no manager or customer services. Hung up.

Fourth call, lady was helpful. She looked into it (with her manager), and it boiled down to a fault their end. The meter reading had changed from metric to imperial (or other way round) and once she changed it back, my balance went back to 0 and I owed nothing. She gave me a reference number, and said I wouldn't hear about this again.

Tonight, I had an email saying sorry to hear you are leaving. Your bill from 28th September - 8th November is £345.47. They want to take this on 7th May.

How can I stop this? This is clearly something there end. I don't know what else to do.

Many thanks in advance for any help, and apologies for the long post. 🙂

Hi everyone! As the title says, we are having issues with Scottish Power (as I'm sure many of you have had too!). We moved into our flat in October, and we have never recieved or paid a bill from them. The previous energy supplier was Tonik Energy. However, we moved in just as they went bust, and all accounts were transferred to SP. Since October I have called them numerous times to try to explain the situation, and I am told that no record exists of the previous tenants because of the switchover, so I haven't been able to set up an account. They confirmed that they are supplying us with energy, but that we're not in the system. Every call I make I am transferred on to many different departments and advisers, and the calls always end with me being cut off, presumably because the person on the other end doesn't know what to do. I'm keen to get this sorted so that we can switch to a cheaper energy provider like Bulb. Obviously I'm not trying to avoid paying bills, but it's not like I haven't tried. Does anyone have any tips on how to proceed? What would happen if I tried to sign up to another supplier now? And what would happen if we did nothing and avoided paying any bills until we move out? I don't want to leave the next tenants with a huge bill, but if they're not letting me pay then what else can I do?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I am in England, not Scotland.

So to keep this easy -

September just gone, I moved out of the house me and my girlfriend lived in for work, but she stayed there, also for work. I called Scottish power at the end of October to tell them so, and that she would be taking over the account. Ok no problem.

December comes, and I get a bill for the old address. Okay, weird, I'll ring them again. Okay, we will close the account.

February comes, another bill. I call, and tell them the same thing again. They now need proof that I moved out in September because it was so long ago. WTF? I have no proof, because the landlord is somebody we know as a person, and the house is still technically under my name.

So I say fine, I will pay up until this point, I give them the meter readings, they say that it will be £316, I say cool, can you just spread it across 10 months on my new address (also SP), they say okay, no problem. Check on my online accounts, bill comes to £316.

A DAY later, I get another bill. £550. What? I check it, the electric readings are Estimated, not actualised, and are estimated to be much higher than what they were. Okay, so I call them. I'm on the phone for an hour, they hang up on me.

I call again, they hang up on me.

I leave it for a little while, they call me. "You owe £550, are you able to pay that today?"

Hold on, that's not true. The readings are estimated, here are the actuals.

"Okay, we will deal with this then call you back". And then they never do. I call them back, and get hung up on.

Since then I have been through this same process more times than I remember, but now the threats of debt collectors have started. I am not a nervous person, but I am starting to feel almost harrassed by the situation.

Where do I stand? What are my rights? I have absolutely no control over this situation whatsoever, I have no way to contact them, I even have video footage of them calling me, and just hanging up on me when I begin to tell them this issue. I have kept calm every time they call, I have asked for a manager or supervisor to contact me, and they told me they would within 2 days. This was 3 weeks ago.

So since I moved into my current gaff in 2018 I've always had my electric topped up with one of those wee keys you take down the co-op. Since moving from Scottish Power to Utilita I've had Scottish Power claim I owe them £180, I've rang up several times and explained I was on a meter and I always ensured it had plenty on it, that I owe them the money without ever properly explaining why? They've since passed my details onto some debt collector called BPO who keep ringing me, any idea what I can do to get them off my back?

So for the last two or so months I’ve been trying to get my billing sorted with Scottish power.

The issue isn’t that they have overcharged me but rather that they’re not charging me.

It’s about 4 months now since my last payment. I’ve called and emailed multiple times and keep on getting told we will sort it and call you back with an update. Each time nothing happens. No call back nothing.

I am worried my electricity gets turned off which would be an issue as I WFH.

What recourse do I have? Can I just switch to a new provider?

Based in Scotland

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone in the same situation has had any luck or just broad advice.

We were Yorkshire Energy customers before it dissolved in December. Like everybody else, we have been waiting and two months later we have FINALLY received the tariff information and it’s just ludicrous.

When compared to our Yorkshire Energy tariff, it will add £50 (50%!) to our energy bills for the past two months for exactly the same usage. Given that we are told not to change suppliers until the switch is completed, I feel we’ve been trapped on these higher costs with no option. This is extra frustrating now hearing about Eon saying that Green Energy customers won’t pay any more and be worse off after the switch.

Has anyone gotten in touch with Scottish Power about this hike yet? Or has anyone who has been through this before got any advice on what we might be able to do?

We will be switching but to add complexity, we are in the process of moving. What happens if we get a new tariff with an exit fee, can we take this with us when we move or will we have to pay that fee?

Edit to add: we have an economy 7 meter but purposefully get single rate tariffs as we do not use enough at night to warrant the higher day rate. They have put us onto an Econ 7 tariff which is where a decent chunk of this cost has come from. Does anyone know what the elec rate is they have swapped people onto who are not Econ 7 customers?

So its 2017. Scottish Power told me that if I switch over to them as my energy provider, I stand a chance to win GBP 5000 in credit. I never win these types of lucky draws, but i was anyway planning to switch over from my expensive provider, so I was like okay.

Anyway, I won !!! So last 3 years i did not have to pay electicity bill and was being deducted from the 5000 credit.

This Oct I moved to a new place and ScottishPower doesnt provide there. So I had to close the account with them. I was bummed as I thought I would lose the credit I had with them. Because I thought credit is credit and cannot be converted to cash.

But ..... Scottish power sent me a cheque for the balance credit!! It was GBP 3000 !!!!!

Now if only I can find a damn PS5 anywhere !!

Ex-Yorkshire Energy customer, transferred to Scottish Power, and have now transferred away to another provider.

Scottish Power are sending "final bills" via email asking for payment. We have no idea how they arrived at that figure, and going by their own tariff rates we think they are overcharging us by a good £20.

Here's the thing: they haven't actually given us a copy of the bill. There's no "this many kWhs used", "this many days", or anything. Just the final figure. There's a link in the email to get the bill, but it asks for a password, which we can't give as they still haven't set up our account.

They aren't answering their phones, have removed the option to receive a callback, and have removed the option to message them from their website. We have been unable to get in touch with them.

Here's what I am wondering: am I actually obligated to pay this bill? Does it fall on me to contact them and say "I don't think that's correct" and otherwise I'm liable, or is the burden on them to issue a bill and a calculation before I'm obligated to pay?

The only reason I'm asking is that it's proving to be a right pain to get in touch with them, so if the burden is on them, I'd rather wait for them to come to me than waste more hours of my time on hold.

Edit: I'm in England