I have been waiting a couple of months for a migration from one energy supplier to another to be completed and get my final bill but I kept getting the same lame assurances that it will happen soon, could be aonther month etc. I found out that my old supplier, Greenstar, hadnt been given the electricity final reading so I got on to the new supplier, who assured me it had been forwarded. I found out that the numbers are passed through various middle men first and then put on a database where the oldco can look at it. Well, guess what? A company called SMS (smart metering systems) based in Cardiff hadnt forwarded the reading given to them so they werent on the database. When I compained to them about their inability to do their job they said that it was a data flow problem insinuating that it was a computer glitch. What they meant is they forgot to do it. These third parties get paid handsomely for basically doing nothing and there is a chain of them involved, not just one. No wonder this country looks like it is struggling, we create methods of cocking things up that others simply couldnt comprehend.

Since becoming unemployed I've fallen behind with my energy bill to what was GB Energy, now changed to Co-OP Energy. I'd managed to pay various amounts off but setting up a DD with Co-Op has proven a nightmare with random sums being taken, or attempted to be taken, from my bank account at random dates during the month. They're now threatened to move me onto a higher rate tariff. Can they do that ? And can I stop them as it seems pointless to move me to a higher rate tariff when I'm struggling to get back on track with the current tariff

Complaints to energy companies research report 2016 Publication date 22nd September 2016 Information types Reports and plans Policy areas Domestic consumers Electricity - retail markets Gas - retail markets Show Related links Ofgem publishes bi-annual survey on how suppliers handle complaints Latest data on volume of complaints 2014 wave of complaints handling survey Every two years we commission independent research to see how satisfied energy consumers are with how suppliers handled their complaints. This report produced by Quadrangle is the fifth survey we’ve undertaken. This survey is conducted within the context of falling complaints numbers. Data on complaints to individual suppliers shows that the volume of complaints is down significantly since 2014. Information from here >> https://tinyurl.com/ya6behjz Go to the bottom of the above link to read the open letters to each CEO of the big companies...

Hi, I have had a problem switching from British Gas to PfP energy. I submitted meter readings to PfP in June. I wrote them down on a piece of paper and saved it, then submitted them on their website. I received confirmation that I was on supply. I forgot about it until I received a final bill from British Gas about a week ago. I checked their final readings against the ones on my online PfP account and they matched, so stupidly assumed all was ok. I paid my final BG bill today. However, I then decided to send a second reading to PfP and found the new reading was less than the reading on my PfP account. I checked against my records and they don't agree. I am 100% certain I did not enter the numbers incorrectly last month -- I am on a dual meter and the last 3 digits of both numbers are wrong -- so I believe PfP have started their supply on BG's estimated final reading; indeed I noticed my final BG bill was an estimated reading. I know I should have checked more thoroughly before paying the final bill, especially considering previous experience of British Gas. I'm pretty certain I did not type 6 digits wrong -- maybe 1, but not 6! So I am certain it is their mistake. I now have to correct PfP, which I'm sure will be fine because the lower initial readings are in their interest. But how do I make BG give me a correct bill and get a refund for the difference? Any advice appreciated.

Hi everyone My current EDF tariff is due to expire in March and so I've been checking out various providers and tariffs to see what's out there and what's good. A company called Iresa Energy have consistently been showing up at or near the top of every search on every website I've checked. However... I've never heard of them before, and info and customer reviews/ratings seem a little thin on the ground. So I was hoping to glean some advice/info from this wonderful place... Knowing that if you've had a lot of people talking about them on here... that's not always a good thing. My other question is that I cannot find any info about their participation in the Warm Home Discount scheme. Which brings me to my 3rd question... I applied for the WHD with EDF at the end of Sept 2016 and have received a reply that my application has been received... but not if I've been granted it yet. I've had it for the previous 2yrs and it's come in very handy with winter heating bills. The savings from Iresa over the next 12 months aren't enough to make up what the WHD gives me. None of the comparison sites seem to take the HD as a factor... and companies participation via those sites is scare or non existent. I've got a couple of months before my tariff ends... so not urgent, plenty of time to gather info together before the switch. Thanks

Hi, I have just received a letter from co-op energy saying, notice of authorised agent to attend premises and saying despite previous correspondence the of amount of £869.12 remains unpaid We have never been with co-op energy, been with e-on forn early 3 years and before that British gas, so have no idea what this is about. It says as we have not replied to discuss this matter they have no choice but to refer the account to their agent Credit Style Limited to visit our property! Advice please, tia Sandy xx

Where are we going with Renewable Energy in Great Britain Just starting a thread on renewables.Just a few articles. Please add articles and comment if you like.I will add some more articles as time goes by. Had to start somewhere, hopefully with your ideas, knowledge and thoughts, posts we can see what is happening in Great Britain and elsewhere. See where we are going, how we are doing compared to the rest of the world. Who wants it who does not. And for what reasons. Is investment falling or rising? How many jobs being created, things like that. Ever since someone gave me an upcycled solar light I thought I have a feeling this is not in everyone's interest. Free power.Perhaps the powerful ones would not like this idea. Do you know? Renewables growth breaks records again despite fall in investment. Falling costs allowed the world to add record new renewable capacity even as investment fell, according to a new report. https://www.carbonbrief.org/renewables-growth-breaks-records-again-despite-fall-investment UK breaks solar energy record on sunny March weekend Amount of electricity demanded by homes and businesses one afternoon was lower than it was during night for first time ever https://www.carbonbrief.org/renewables-growth-breaks-records-again-despite-fall-investment Sustainable Energy – without the hot air.Loads of links to interesting articles. http://www.withouthotair.com/ G.B. National Grid Status Data courtesy of Elexon portal and Sheffield University The meter, you will soon get used to it.For someone like myself it may take a little time but interesting. To see what is happening throughout the day. http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/index.php Well to tell you the truth I do not know that much about renewables, wind, solar, tidal and all the rest. Sustainable energy etc and hope you will add your knowledge, thoughts and add to this thread. I said I would start a thread on renewables etc and have started one as promised. And if you are outside looking in, bursting with information or wanting to say anything you can join and have your say we are a friendly lot in the forums. Link here.http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/register.php Thanks for reading anyway. I wish you a good evening wherever you may be. Tawnyowl.

Why does it cost more to pay by a non direct debit payment, I mean what extra work is required to say paying by a standing order ?.

Why take any dispute to the Ombudsman , is it worth the trouble? For the 3 time of trying to post this reply but worth reading:- Rights of Entry (Gas and Electricity Boards) Act 1954, The Gas Safety (Rights of Entry) Regulations 1996 In a genuine dispute there are no rights of entry(i.e magistrates warrant issued), however I would also caution health and safety matters if its a gas leak. if electricity meter dispute The Electricity Act 1989, The Utilities Act 2000 Note schedule 7 of 1989 act and schedule 5 of 2000 Act, an electric meter cannot be removed until a dispute is resolved. I did provide links to laws but the post is not going through. Hope this helps you and others. Mike

I was with EE for a relatively short period before I went to another company - GB energy who have subsequently gone bust. The thing that struck with EE was that their bills never made any sense to me. From a period covering 28/01/2015 to 25/01/2016, I received 4 bills: Bill a) covering period between 28/01/2015 -10/04/2015 shown I was in debit by -£30.32 ( received on 11/05/2015) Bill b) covering period between 28/01/2015 -05/10/2015 shown I was in credit by £171.189 ( received on 07/01/2016) Bill c) covering period between 28/01/2015- 05/10/2015 shown I was in credit by £95.81 ( received on 07/01/2016) Bill d) covering period between 28/01/2015 -01/03/2015 shown I was in debit by £35.60( received on 27/012016 Then on 20/09/2016 when was with another provider, I got another bill for 28/01/2015 -01/03/2015 showing I was in debt by £82.39 which I paid hoping that would be the end of it unfortunately I have been getting a number of phone calls from Credit Style which I have not responded to Today when I rang back a number that was with an email they sent me . No one replied but there was a recorded message to which I replied I had no idea what all these phone calls were about and left it at that. I really don't know what to do about this and would welcome some advice. Thanks

With developments coming to light, I think it worthwhile that this get a thread on its own, initially at least focusing mainly on the realities of the UK's (LOL a misnomer for starters) nuclear industry rather possible options which probably should have been taken decades ago. Toshiba Westinghouse and parent Toshiba company Japanese owned part of our sold of Energy and nuclear future, which is Bancrupt and was anyway without an on time or on cost build to their name EDF French owned part of our sold off Energy and nuclear future which does not have and on time or on cost build to uts name, and with the UK taxpayer guaranteeing foreign owned EDF's cost and profits. Penn might pull this anyway if elected http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/04/10/marine-le-pen-could-pull-plug-hinkley-point-project-elected/ https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-10/le-pen-would-seek-to-pull-edf-out-of-u-k-s-hinkley-project China https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/03/theresa-may-nuclear-row-xi-jinping-china-uk-relations-g20-summit South Korea https://www.ft.com/content/29643f00-1774-11e7-a53d-df09f373be87 Britain turns to South Korea to salvage Moorside nuclear project and with the UK's nuclear deterrent dependent on the US and the UK's nuclear fuel heavily dependent on the EU ..

I switched energy supplier, am on pay as you go thing with the key (electricity) and card (gas). Someone at the door persuaded me, all fine, got a cheaper rate. Everyone here is fine with it because it's a cheaper rate. Thing is I just live here, I don't pay any of the energy bills here and I told them this clearly. The previous contract wasn't under my name and am 100% sure a credit rating check would deny any other form of payment method lol. Any pitfalls? This contract is under my name now. In the future if I or anyone else wants to change provider for this house, they can do so right (after the contract runs out)? Any new contract doesn't require me? I can cancel the application at any time according to the email during the initial phase before they send me a new key/card. As I said it's not a big deal because everyone here is fine with it, but would like any input.

Hi Guys, I'm was a customer of GB energy, and after finding out they're I bust followed the advice to take a meter readings. However when I went to get the electric readings I found that my meter doesn't display the numbers and is faulty. GB energy will not respond and Ofgem keeps cutting me off when I try to phone them. Any advice please?

I would welcome some advice on dealing with a Claimform I have received through the post, which was issued on 1 Feb 2017. I intend to defend the claim but need advice on what I need to send back in the first instance and going forward how to prepare the defence. The debt is with Co-operative Energy for Gas/Electricity supply and goes back to 2015. We set up an account in Dec 2014/Jan 2015 and initially had no problems. We set up the direct debit for payments and assumed everything was ok. However, in September 2015 we received correspondence claiming the account was in arrears due to non-payment to the tune of £949.00. I queried this directly with them as we had a direct debit in place and they should have been collecting payment automatically. I also queried why they elected to not contact me for nine months before demanding payment. They wanted to recover the whole amount and were unwilling to allow us to spread the debt over a number of coming months to ease the burden. They eventually agreed to send us further documents to initiate a new direct debit to clear the debt which was again put in place. We moved house in Jan 2016 but stayed with the same provider. Things went quiet and we didn't hear anything until we received correspondence from a debt collector (UK Search Ltd) around 3 August 2016 chasing payment. This was not even sent to us at the new address but sent to my sister-in-law who was listed as an alternative contact address by our previous landlord. The amount had inexplicably jumped to £1,412.49. I contacted UK Search Ltd to ask why the debt was higher and requested a breakdown of where this amount had come from. I also requested to be contacted direct rather than chasing me at my sister-in-law's address. This took some time for them to implement. They went away to get the amount clarified from Co-Op. After a couple of weeks, I received a very brief statement of the outstanding amount. I contacted UK Search Ltd and said it was insufficient as it did not clarify why there was an additional £500 on the debt or where it had come from. They simply said that was the information that Co-Op provided and I had to pay it. I refused to pay money beyond what I actually owed (£949). I then received another letter saying they would offer me to pay £775 to clear the debt if paid by 5 Oct. I tried to raise the funds as this seemed a good offer but was unable to raise the money in the three week period they specified. They have emailed a couple of times and leave phone messages for me to contact them every day to which I have not responded. On February 4 I received a Claim Form dated 1 Feb 2017. Please can you advise my next steps as I need to dispute the amount. The amount claimed has risen again to £1,530.13 and with court fees and legal representatives cost now stands at £1,715.13. I would be grateful for assistance as I intend to acknowledge service but want to defend it and require and help on my next steps please. Thank you in advance.

Dear Cagger's, I need advice on a letter i received from EDF energy (to my new address), stating that i owe them £3500 for electricity at my previous address and if i do not contact them then they are instructing debt collector's. I was living in my previous property (private landlord) for 2yrs and 6 months, during this time, i assumed my electricity was included in my rent. I never once received a bill from EDF during the whole 2.5 years and my electricity was never cut off! Since receiving this letter, i have checked my old TA and it doesnt say my rent included electricity, just water rates. I am shocked to recieve this huge debt and i guess i am responsible for it, however, i never once took a meter reading, so i am not sure how they have calculated my useage. What can i do to dispute this debt please? Why didnt they cut my supply off after non-payment of the first bill? I didnt even recieve any red bills either. Isnt it very irresponsible of them to let it accumilate to such an extortionate amount. If they had sent bills or even cut it off after non-payment, then i would have realised that the electric wasnt included in my rent but i received not a single bill in 2.5 year's.

Around 20 million energy customers (mainly with large suppliers) in Britain are on ‘standard variable’ rate tariffs, and are potentially missing out on significant savings. Ofgem has published its own league table comparing the cheapest and priciest energy deals on the market. The table compares how much customers on standard variable tariffs (often the most expensive on the market) with each provider could save by switching to a cheaper deal, without even switching companies. More than 1.7 million Npower customers could save £261 a year, simply by moving to another Npower tariff. While a record number of people switched in 2016, close to seven in ten households are still stuck on standard variable tariffs, costing £1.4bn in total. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38314164

Hi all, Hoping someone could give me some advice. I'm with OVO Energy, have been since August 2016. My tariff was £45 a month dual fuel, 2 bed semi detached house. I live with 1 other person. I cancelled my direct debit in October and made a manual payment. I couldn't set my direct debit back up on the website so I left it and made a couple of small payments here and there, intending to set it back up again. I had two statements from them, one in Nov for £32.24 and one in Dec for £31.43. A man came to read the meters a week or so ago. On my online account it says that I gave them a reading on the 9th Jan and then they estimated a reading on the 14th?? It also says that my gas usage is up over 2000% (how??). I got home yesterday to a threatening letter threatening a warrant of entry and saying I owe them £296.25!!! I rang them this morning and they told me that they didn't use the meter reading that was taken on the 9th Jan because it was 'too different', and made me read the meters over the phone, which I did. She put me on hold and came back saying that I owe over £400! Apparently they have emailed and written to me, which they have, but the last two statements were for the reasonable amounts above, no requests to contact them - this is totally out of the blue and I'm pretty sure they have just pulled that figure out of thin air. How should I handle this? They've also told me that they have to take half of the amount at once before setting up a payment plan (seems to be a standard tactic they use). I'm pretty clued up with debt collectors and their ways and I'm not threatened by their letter - however I want to keep this from escalating as I don't want another default. I'd like to stop them in their tracks if poss. Thanks in advance!

Hello All I made this SAR request to the Energy Ombudsman (E-O) as I wanted to see what Npower submitted to them as evidence to back up their response to my complaint with them. Npower are reknowned for saying they have done everything correctly but not substantiating anything with hard evidence. My questions are: 1) There are some emails between Npower and the E-O where the NPower's persons details (name number email etc) have been redacted. Is this permitted? Why? 2) The E-O hasn't sent me any evidence from Npower to substantiate their response to my complaint (but they did include the emails I sent them as evidence) . Should they withhold this from me in SAR request? As this was the purpose of me making the request in the first place. 3) Can I do anything about the above to get the info I was after in the first place? Many thanks in advance Jimbo

Hi Hoping to get a quick bit of advice please. Our energy company (Extra Energy, fwiw) has told us today we haven't been paying enough and are £440 in debt. A while back, they dropped our DD from 95 to 65, saying that's all we needed to pay, so we did. Now they are saying we have used too much. If we had stayed at 95 we would have still be 160 in debt so we accept that and are happy to pay it, but they are telling us now we need to pay the 280 debt they have caused us. We simply can't afford this, they have said we need to now pay 125 a month, almost double. Where do we stand? Thank you.

Literally minutes before the BBC announced that GB Energy had gone out of business I completed a switch to EON via a comparison website. My question is should I stop the switch and await OFGEN to put me with a new supplier or is it OK to let the switch progress? I should add that I am about £150 in credit with GB which OFGEN say is safe. Advice appreciated. Thank you.

Hi New to site. I inherited a small property in 2005 and continued dual fuel account with same company. Used property as second home whist renovating it. Decided to rent out as I was then living in Cornwall (330 miles from property) Rented out property in December 2013 to young couple. Took 6 months and a complaint to OS Energy before new account put in female tenant's name, by which time tenant had built up large debt and had DCA calling every day. Tenant's informed me they were vacating by April, 2015. In the meantime I decided to sell property as too many problems with tenants. They did not give me an exact moving out date but eventually moved out on 2 August, 2015 leaving the keys and note with meter reads on with neighbour. Meter reads were correct, so wrote a letter dated 5 August, 2015, enclosing tenant's note to supplier stating that I had taken back property and to put new account in my name and send to Cornwall address. Property had been sold so it would remain empty so expected to be put on standard tariff, 3 monthly bills. Unbeknown to me the supplier had received call from tenant on 4 August, 2015 and she gave them a 'false' name for the person due to take over the supply. It was 3 to 4 months before I realised what was happening. I wrote to supplier in November, 2015 explained the situation and again asking for account to be put in my name. Roll on January, 2016 up on a visit to the property, a couple more bills in the 'false' name. So I started emailing the supplier's complaints department, requesting they halt any action on the account until my complaint had been sorted. I opened one of the bills and it was estimated as approx. £700 owing. Obviously as the property had been unoccupied sine tenants had left, I knew about only 10% of this figure was actually used, mostly standing charges. On 29 January, 2016, I returned to property to find supplier's agent just leaving having just fitted ext. prepayment gas meter. When I explained who I was and what the situation was, he contacted his office, gave them the actual meter reads and an account was set up in my name and Cornwall address. He was instructed to put the original meter back. Which he partly did and put a sealing disc in the supply effectively cutting off the gas. The gas could not be used as it needed commissioning. I then had to arrange for the system to be drained to prevent frost damage. I emailed supplier giving them 7 days to fix the gas supply. They ignored my request. The new owner took over the utilities on 8 February, 2016 and arranged for registered plumber to recharge system and gas supply and then sent me the bill for nearly £200. I have since discovered that the supplier merely changed the name on the account and expected me to pay the charges on the account (for letter and agent visit) In an email from the supplier they indicate they did not respond to my contacts due to the DPA and I was not the named account holder. The bills they sent me, 2 both dated 29 January, 2016 and the final bill dated 17 February, 2016 are estimated, contain the charges and have the same account number as the 'false' name one. I also started a complaint with the OS Energy on 16 January 2016 (8 weeks after I complained to supplier in Nov, 2015) In March, 2016, I received email from supplier after I had told them I had started complaint with OS Energy. The supplier offered to simply zero the estimated bill and contribute towards plumber's bill. I had previously informed them I would wait for the OS decision and they should also do same. According to the info I have researched, the supplier did NOT obtain a warrant, did not write informing that pp meter would be fitted giving 28 days warning. They did not offer any payment plans. They are also required to send 7 day warning letter about fitting pp meter. They did but it arrived several days after they had fitted meter and was dated 29 January, same day as pp meter fitted. So as far as I'm concerned they breached Ofgem rules for fitting pp meter. I will let you digest this part of the story before telling the rest of the saga (or farce). Perhaps you can recognise which supplier is involved?

As the title says, here goes. First a little background. I've recently started my own business and opened up my own shop. I'm quite young to have done such a thing but I felt the time was right. I'd had the premises for a month and was waiting for a letter from whoever supplied the previous tenants electricity, so I could look into energy contracts etc. which never arrived (which only made me anxious anyway). Fast forward to a couple of days ago, on the day before the shop opening, tensions were running high, stress at getting the finishing touches done when I get a phone call out of the blue from 'Jake'. He stated that he worked with APR Energy and was in charge of handling my energy contracts alongside the estate agent and demanded to know why I hadn't responded to any of their correspondence. Caught offguard, I said that I had been waiting for it and hadn't received anything. His tone immediately changed. He said that I was currently with NPower and I was on some astronomically high out-of-contract rate and that he had called to get me on a better deal. Foolishly, I believed him and he rattled off that he had searched through deals and the cheapest he could find was with 'Opus Energy' and had I heard of them. I replied no. He continued on with his spiel and managed to extract my details out of me and then recorded me verbally agreeing to a 3-year energy contract with Opus Energy before I even knew what was going on. Towards the end of the call, he pushed that if anyone else called, to hang up and not talk to them. He was so pushy that it was THEN I realised that something was wrong. When the phone call ended, I googled Opus Energy and pages upon pages have come up recounting the exact same scenario that I've just explained. I called back on the number he called me on a couple of hours later to cancel, but strangely another man 'Jonathan' (who sounded an awful lot like Jake) denied any knowledge of Jake, or third-party energy brokers. He did say, that he would look at any paperwork that came onto his desk and if my name came up he would put a note on it and he would get back to me on Monday. (I took out the contract on Friday). Needless to say he never called, so I called him again today and he told me to call Opus and get it sorted. Now Opus Energy are giving me the run-around and are 'going to check the recording', when I know that all that has been recorded is the verbal contract and not the start of the call in which Jake told a torrent of lies. I know that I was totally mis-sold this contract by 'fraudulent misrepresentation' under the Misrepresentation Act 1967. He stated I was with NPower. After calling Power Distribution, they informed me that no, the previous owners were with Scottish Power. He stated that he worked alongside my estate agent. They have also confirmed this is false. And because of what he claimed, I was induced into taking out a contract. I have no idea, what else I can do. It's my first business and this whole farce is worrying me sick. I never wanted to go with Opus in the first place and I feel completely cheated. I admit, I should never have been so stupid and gullible to have fallen for his charade and I certainly won't ever be as stupid again. Is there anything else I can do to cancel this contract? Thanks.

Elderly parents cold called by British Gas and talked into having Smart Meters fitted with the promise that they could then choose to have free energy either on Saturday or Sunday. Meters duly fitted, told by engineer to call to pick their day, only then are they told they can't have the free energy until they set up an online account. Had they been told that from the outset they wouldn't have bothered as they don't have wifi, don't trust online stuff and are probably beyond learning how to do it now anyway. BG have given them £30 for their failure to mention the online requirement, but they're still disappointed.

OK so we moved into a new property a year ago and sent our meter readings etc via their online form to notify them. We never received a bill and became aware of this after about 6 months - I accept we could / should have phoned them up to enquire but life and a new child just got in the way and we figured one would turn up sooner rather than later. Anyway, after a year we were stumped that they didn't bother billing us, even if it was to the address and not to us personally, and decided it would be easier to just switch provider which would hopefully force Co-op into sending us a bill. That seemed to work and we promptly got a bill for £1900, a little more than we would have guessed. After several unhelpful calls it was determined that they had no record of us sending anything and so far as they are concerned we are 100% at fault for not notifying them that we moved in. I argued that this is a 2 way street and they have some obligation to invoice their customers or make some effort to get in touch when they are happily supplying electricity & gas to a property. We raised a complaint and they have so far failed to address why they didn't send a bill. All they will say is that they cannot send a bill if they don't have a name, yet the bill they sent is just to the house and our names do not appear on it. For a long time they thought we were trying to get out of paying the bill, but that really isn't the case. I am happy to pay for our supply and to pay a fair price. My complaint is based around the fact that Co-Op didn't receive our attempt to send meter readings, and secondly, made no effort to get in touch to see what was going on - even though they were happy to keep supplying us with Gas & Electric. I am also somewhat irked that they seem to have put us on their most expensive tariff - looking at current prices our bill could have been £450 cheaper on an alternative tarif, something we were denied and it's not a tarrif we agreed to. I appreciate people are responsible for their own actions, so I am cautious of pushing it too far, but at the same time I believe energy companies generally take the pi££ with customers and their has to be some shared responsibility in ensuring bills are manageable and fair and that certainly hasn't been the case with co-op. They have offered us £100 as a goodwill reduction and given us 48 hours to accept it or not; I wonder if anyone has been through anything similar and whether there is possible recourse going through the ombudsman. Is there a burden on Energy Suppliers to get in touch with homeowners? We obviously cannot prove we sent meter readings as these were done online, so no email records or phone records. Ultimately I would be happy to settle on their lowest rate and pay it in full. Edit: During this time we cooperated with people coming around to read the meter, indeed our bill shows 6 meter readings were supplied in this time - 2 meter readings and 4 customer readings (though we didn't call them with these so I assume they were done by the energy company).

Hi I'm new to the forum and hope I can be a valuable contributor in some small way. I am about to move home and having a bit of a problem with Scottish Power - they are the providers in my new house. Well the people who provided the previous tenants with power anyway. I spent an hour on the phone trying to register for an account with them to no avail. It is a prepayment meter in the new property and my question is this. Do I have to register with Scottish Power initially or can I go straight to another company - I will be changing anyway as their rates seem a bit high. Also as a joint tenant do both of us have to resister or can just one of us? We were going to split the bills between us - one pay water/phone the other gas/electric. Many thanks Serena