Scottish Power Help

[RicardoDiaz]

OK. I moved house over a year ago. In my previous residence I had Scottish Power as my utility provider for Gas and Electric.

I was with them for 5 years. During this time I paid an estimated bill. They read my metre every couple of months. When they read the metre it is supposed to adjust your estimation so you end up only £20-£30 out as a maximum.

Shortly after Scottish Power taking over my gas & Electric they changed my metre and didn't update their computers. Because of this every time my metre was read the metre reading was rejected.

When I moved home they presented me with a bill for over £500 for my gas. I have disputed this with them over the phone and they said they would reduce the bill by 25%. I have made it clear on the phone I still dispute I should have to pay anything. They have been negligent and not noticed I was underpaying for 5 years.

They have now passed my claim to a debt collection agency and I don't know what to do?

I think I need to write a letter but do not know what grounds are the best to dispute this.

Thanks

[tiglet]

I think you are probably best contacting energywatch and asking for their advice - i'v found them to be helpful so far.

[RicardoDiaz]

Sorry I haven't updated this thread.

Scottish Power agreed to write off the debt.

I did it all over the phone and my issues were escalated to some committee that discusses my types of issues once every 2 weeks.

My grounds for not paying them was based on something called the Law of Estopple. This law is often used by employees when there employer overpays them. the basics of it say:

If you recieved an overpayment and never realised you recieved an overpayment. If you have spent the money and to repay the money would put you in a worse financial position you should not have to re pay the money.

In my situation I deemed myself underpaying an overpayment by them to me. I never realised I was recieving an overpayment as I was letting Metre readers in to read my metre and was doing everything I should have to ensure accurate billing. If I were to repay that money it would have definately put me in a worse financial position.

My secodn argument was one of Negligence by Scottish Power. As a customer to ensure accurate billing I have fulfilled my duty of care to allow meter readers in and pay my bills on time. Scottish Power when they changed my metre had a duty of care to update their computers to reflect this. They also had a duty of care to bill me correctly as I was fulfilling my requirements as a customer. Scottish Power also had a duty of care to have picked this up as some point over the 5 year period.

Upshot is they were negligent.

So you could change this thread to WON!