Scottish Power - Compensation?? HELP!?

[Mama Bear]

Hi
My power went off on thursday evening at approx 5.15pm, and didnt come back on again until 9.28pm on friday evening...

Scottish Power have said that they will give me £50 as compensation.
However, I lost nearly £150 worth of frozen food, and despite having freezer food cover on my home insurance, I dont see why I should have to pay increased premiums for the next year or two when it was totally SP's fault, and they have admitted that the fault was in their 'maintained' power lines.

I spoke to one of the workmen at the top of the street who were fixing the fault, and even they said that SP should pay out for my freezer food, and that if i pushed them enough for it then they would pay out. all it says on their website is that they 'dont normally pay out for freezer food' but the workmen told me that if i kicked up a big enough fuss over it then they would do - its going to push my premiums up by nearly £5 per month - doesnt sound like much, but my current premiums are only £20 per month. so thats an extra £60 per year! pushing my yearly premuim from 250 to £315!

is there any literature on here that I can use to help me? Im not quite sure what to do - has anyone been through something similar?

I could call energy watch - a friend used to work for them and gave me pretty much the same advice as the workmen...

[ozzywizard]

I very much doubt they will give you anymore, the guarantee of service states to pay 30 pounds for each 24 hour period of loss of supply and you have had more than that. Regarding freezer food they will keep telling you to claim on your insurance as this is policy. You could try to excalate it and maybe they will give you more as a goodwill gesture but I doubt it, good luck anyways as I think this ruling is unfair.

[Mama Bear]

according to energy watch, the guaranteed standard payment is £50 for the first 24hrs, and £25 for each subsequent 12hr period.
i sw energy watch about it, and they said to write to SP first to see if I had any luck before they get involved....so letter sent today!

[ozzywizard]

30 pound is the GOS for the gas being off for 24 hours.



Electricity Distributors’ Guaranteed Standards of Service

• Your local electricity distribution company also has a number of
  Guarantees of Service.
• These are as follows:

Failure of main fuse

• If your main fuse fails and causes your electricity to go off your
  local distribution company will visit within the following timescales
• Weekdays: Notified 7am-7pm, guaranteed to call within 3 hours.
• Weekends and Bank Holidays: Notified 9am-5pm, guaranteed to
  call within 4 hours.
• £20 will be automatically paid if they fail to do this

Supply Restoration during Normal Weather

• Upon being aware of a fault your local distribution company will
  try to restore a loss of supply within 18 hours.
• If they fail you can claim by contacting them within one month
• £50 if you are a domestic customer
• £100 if you are a business customer
• And a further £25 payment for each additional period of 12 hours
  where you have no electricity

Supply Restoration during Severe Weather

• During severe weather it may take longer to restore your supply.
• You may be entitled to receive compensation if your supply is not restored
  within 24 to 48 hours dependant on the number of faults and the number of
  customers affected.
• You can claim by contacting your local distributor within three months.
• If your claim is valid the following apply
• £25 if you are a domestic customer
• £50 if you are a business customer
• And a further £25 payment for each additional period of 12 hours where you
  have no electricity to a maximum payment of £200

Estimates for new supplies and connections

• Once your local distributor has been given all the necessary information
  they will provide you with an estimate for a new connection within 5
  working days when there is no need for additional significant work.
• If additional work is needed they will provide an estimate within 15
  working days.
• This only applies to connections requested to developments of 4 properties
  or less £40 will be automatically paid if they fail to do this

Planned interruption of a supply

• Your local distribution company will inform you of any necessary
  planned interruptions to your supply by giving you at least 2 days notice.
• If they fail you can claim by contacting them within 1 month
• £20 if you are a domestic customer
• £40 if you are a business customer

Voltage Complaints

• If you advise your local distribution company of a problem with your
  voltage they will either provide a written explanation within 5 working days or
  offer to visit to investigate within 7 working days
• £20 will be automatically paid if they fail to do this

Making and keeping appointments

• When required your local distribution company will make and keep
  timed appointments, offering either morning, afternoon or within a 2 hour
  time band.
• £20 will be automatically paid if they fail to do this

Multiple Supply Interruptions

• If your supply is interrupted for more than 3 hours on 4 or more
  separate occasions during a 12 month period from 1st April, you can claim £50.
• You must claim within 3 months of the end of the 12 month period.

Compensation Payments

• In cases where a failure payment is automatically due to you we,
  or your local distribution company will send this to you
  within 10 working days.
• £20 extra payment will be automatically paid if they fail to do this

[Wolly]

Hi,

I work for an energy supplier and I will advise that although they say they wont compensate for defrosted food, if you kick up enough fuss, they will eventually pay it. So keep at em!

[Mama Bear]

Fantastic - just what I wanted to hear. Ive been told that by the workmen and also a friend who used to work for energy watch, however its nice to hear it coming from someone who works in the industry right now!
are there any pointers you can give - anything that might help them pay up sooner rather than later...?

any little phrases that might flag up my case to the right people?? - I know its cheeky, but hey, if you dont ask, you dont get!!

[Wolly]

wait and see what SP say, I dont really know their procedures as i dont work for SP, but, this is what would happen if i received your complaint (and believe me i've had a many like this)

Firstly, you would be offered the GOS payment, if you refused, i would ask you to provide receipts for all the food that was wasted. If you dont have receipts, a simple list drawn up yourself with the costs will suffice,

however, please dont lie, and say you had £500 worth of lobster and caviar from Harrords or somewhere posh like that, be truthful as you are more likely to be compensated if your claim is believable.

Also mention that the engineer working on the fault promised you that you would be compensated. The loss of food would not qualify for a formal complaint to be raised, but because a representative of their company has entered into a verbal agreement with you, that would be a formal complaint, so your claim is processed faster.

Normally, i would authorise the payment here. SP have admitted fault, and you were told that you would be compensated, so i think you do have a very strong case.

If SP still refuse, your next step is Energywatch, provide them with copies of all correspondece sent and received.

Another trick is to contact your local MP and ask for them to contact SP on your behalf, addressed to the MD or Chief Executive. Any correspondence forwarded to me from the CE office are regarding as priority complaints, and have to be resolved in 2 days, and if its from an MP, a reply has to be sent within 24 hours (another great way to speed up the process)

Threaten to go to small claims court, watchdog, local papers etc, eventually they will pay you, just to shut you up! (harsh but true)

Hope this helps, let us know how you get on.

[Mama Bear]

fantastic!
i sent this letter to them on the 12th:

I am writing to request that you provide me with compensation for the loss of power that I sustained on Thursday 8th – Friday 9th March 2007.


Upon my return from work on Thursday evening, I noticed that the power to a number of houses in the street was off.
The power remained off, despite numerous reassurances by yourselves that it would be restored momentarily, until approx 9.30pm on Friday evening. This means that I was without power for 29 hours.


I have lost approx £125 worth of food from my freezer due to the lack of power, and subsequently sustained damage to the kitchen floor due to water damage from the defrosting freezer.


I require compensation in the form of £175 from yourselves. This includes both the Guaranteed Standard Payment of £50, and £125 to cover the freezer food that was spoiled. This was discussed with the Engineer on site on my return from work on Friday evening, who confirmed that I would be compensated for both the Guaraanteed standard payment, and the loss of freezer food.


I have sought advice from Energy Watch, as I do not feel that I should suffer the consequence of claiming back the £125 to cover freezer food from my Home Insurance provider, and therefore enduring the increase in my Insurance Premiums. I was advised to approach yourselves initially for compensation for the above reasons, before Energy Watch will act on my behalf in the recuperation of monies owed.


I look forward to receiving a cheque for £175 by return.

[Mama Bear]

what do you think? do you reckon that i'll just get the standard response offering me £50 or do you think that on the basis of that letter they might just pay up?

any thoughts would be great.

already clicked your scales!

[Wolly]

thats great! but they will probably not pay up straight away. They may stick with the £50 offer, or increase it slightly. If they do, dont give up!

Keep mentioning the fact that you was promised compensation from the engineer, as this is the strongest factor of your complaint.

When you receive their reply, and if they have refused to increase their offer, politely decline the offer and send them your list of damaged food items, before going to Energy Watch. If they dont respond within 10 days, or still refuse to pay up, then write to Energy Watch.

good luck!

[Mama Bear]

great, i didnt give them a deadline, but i think 7 days should be long enough for them to have received my letter and dealt with it to some extent. if i havent heard from them by monday i'll write to them again with a list of damaged food items.

[Mama Bear]

just a quick update, have been off sick for a week, and in all that time, have had no response from SP, so sending them the following letter today:

I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 12th March 2007 a copy of which is enclosed.


As previously mentioned in my earlier letter, I have sought advice from Energy Watch on how to approach the matter of compensation from yourselves without having to involve Energy Watch, however despite my earlier attempt, you have failed to settle my complaint.


I am also disappointed that I have had no communication from yourselves regarding the loss of power sustained on the 8-9th March 2007, despite numerous conversations with your customer services department ensuring me that you would be in contact within approximately 10 days of the power to my property being restored, and a conversation with the engineers who came to repair the fault who promised me that I would be compensated for the loss of freezer food.


I am writing to inform you that I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment as requested in the attached initial letter, sent to yourselves on 12th March 2007.

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.


After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim with Energy Watch against yourselves at the expiry of the second deadline.



any body have any thoughts / advice??

[Mama Bear]

just had a call from an Alan Pendleton from SP.. he said that there is no way that they are going to compensate me for the food, and he's going to send me the standard £50 and that is it. I reiterated the fact that a representative of SP had entered into a verbal agreement with me by promising me the compensation, and his reply was ' well he shouldnt have, but anyway, we're still not going to compensate you'

what do I do???? do i now write to energywatch? or do i write to the CE?

[Mama Bear]

shall i write to the CE with a letter along the lines of...

having spoken with AP from your call centre, i wish to make a formal complaint...blah blah (give the reasons as stated above)..enclosed are copies of the previous letters as well as a list of the food lost...

and give the CE ten days to respond with payment before i get energy watch involved?

[Mama Bear]

right, have just filed a complaint with energywatch

[Mama Bear]

got a phonecall the other day about this, from a guy at SP.... he has sent me the £50 GO, and is looking into paying me some form of compo with regards to my freezer food.....but not looking too promising.
ah well.