Hi Has anyone had any success dealing with Scottish Power with any alternative remedy to the Energy Ombudsman, please? I'm helping out a seriously ill friend whose bills have got in a mess over a number of year he's been in and out of hospital with various internal organs packing up. I've been trying to disentangle his energy bills which is through Scottish Power which he had no choice about as it was mandatory as part of his rental. It's all very convoluted but comes down to them refusing repeatedly to amend the billing address to make sure he received bills, failing to provide any tariff information at all and simply applying whatever tariff at any one time was the most advantageous for them, and now it turns out that the meter readers he was letting into the property (which is a redeveloped mill with many apartments) weren't in fact reading the meters at all so the bills have been estimated. Not getting the bills means he's not been able to draw down any of the discounts he'd have been entitled to and he's now being billed for usage they can't prove he ever used. While this complaint has been ongoing, even though I'm Court-appointed as his representative they won't use my address or contact to resolve this, have ignored offers to pay, and have passed the account while in dispute and with the Ombudsman to debt collection agents who keep ringing him on a mobile number Scottish Power have told the Ombudsman they've never had when I personally have been fielding up to 10 calls a day from Scottish Power and its agents to that number. The Energy Ombudsman's view is that Scottish Power don't and still don't have to amend the address even though that would mean that him, as one of the parties to the contract, would actually receive bills for the service they're trying to charge for. They also say that Scottish Power can charge whatever they want without him agreeing or seeing tariffs when surely he is entitled to clear, accurate and timely bills. They say it doesn't matter that there's no proof of what energy he's used, he has to pay it anyway. I genuinely don't understand that at all, when any supply is between two parties and must be equitable. My view is that he should have to pay what he's used but not for what they can't prove was him and could've been earlier tenants, he shouldn't be charged high tariffs he never agreed to in the first place, he should be allowed the discounts they've deprived him of. With the harassment on top of this, and their steadfast refusal to try and get the matter sorted in a way that's equitable to both sides of the contract, my inclination is to take Scottish Power to Court to get it sorted. Has anyone tried this, or been able to get other mediation involved to get it sorted fairly? Any help much appreciated, ta, Claire

I have been browsing this board and I see that a lot of posts here relate to Npower. I've been fighting with that institution since June last year and recently sent a complaint to Energy Ombudsman. The complaint originally refers to the amount that was charged in error for utilities used in a property that I have vacated roughly 9 months ago. The amount was then refunded to me and then added again to another bill. In a word, Npower claimed back its own refund. As I know that some people here have experience in dealing with Energy Ombudsman I wanted to ask how their complaints procedure usually works. Following the advice that I received from Consumer Direct employee, I have sent formal complaint form and dozens of documents and letters that I have exchanged with Npower to Energy Ombudsman enquiry email address. Energy Ombudsman accepted my complaint and sent me a form to sign in order to start the investigation. Today, I have received a phone call from a member of Npower Executive Complaints Team. The lady stated that they have issued the refund in error made some other mistakes concerning my bills from my previous property and the outcome is that I owe them £300 pounds Funny. I would like to ask two questions: Is it a normal procedure? The Energy Ombudsman's website says that they will let me know about the outcome of investigation. I was expected to be contacted by the Energy Ombudsman not by Npower employee? I have really bad experience with that company and I feel that they are trying to do something behind my back, again. Shall let the Energy Ombudsman that I was contacted by Npower? Due to professional reasons I'll be moving to another city soon. I'm going to close my dual fuel account with Npower and sign up for some decent supplier. What could be the outcome if I just leave it like that? From Your experience, is it possible that they will be chasing after me? If so how and when?