Good morning all. Short version : Scottish Power (SP) took over my energy supply without my permission or prior notification and are charging me a much higher tariff. Is there a contract in place and do I have to pay? Looooooong version : Up until December 2016 I was a happy customer of GB Energy Supply (GBES). Documentation was received in early December from Coop Enregy (Coop) welcoming me to them and assuring me my supply would continue as normal, keep supplying meter readings etc, nothing to worry about. Around March 2017 I received a bill from SP addressed to a party not known to me and a property number with an extra digit in it which doesn't exist on the development. Naturally I assumed it was a mis-delivery and put it to one side, intending to return it. More of the same arrived and eventually curiosity got the better of me so I opened one and saw a debt for several hundred pounds. I rang SP to inform them of their errors but they would not discuss the matter as I wasn't the accountholder, and I should put any further communications from them back in the postbox marked not known at this address. Fair enough, so that's what I did. July rolls around and Grosvenor Services have mailed the "Current Occupier" that they want paying £400 for a SP debt. I met the Grosvenor guy at the property and have a pleasant chat with him about the errors of SPs ways in the honest belief that it was all some huge mistake, but it transpired that the meter numbers on their bill match the numbers on my meters (!) indicating that SP were in fact the current energy supplier. He contacted his SP source on the phone while I was stood there and explained the situation that 1) I was not the person named on the bill (and I provided DL proof to support this) and 2) as far as I was concerned my supplier was GBES (now Coop) and my direct debit payments were up to date and I had not received any notification from them about a change in my supply(ier), nor had there been any communication from SP either. After carrying out some background checks on the supply and myself they concluded that there had been some huge mix-up somewhere which they would look into and sort out, and also put me back to how I was after I told them I didn't wish to have them as my supplier and I was quite happy with GBES/Coop. I was assured all this would be put in writing to me and later that afternoon I had an email from Grosvenor stating that they had no further interest and the case had been referred back to SP. Perhaps naively I thought that was the end of it. I was in the middle of dealing with a death in the family so didn't have time to be wasting on sorting out SPs messes. I did ring Coop to see if they could cast any light on the matter from their end but I got bored of sitting in the queue after 10 mins and gave up, fairly happy that I was worrying about nothing seeing as they were still sending me PDF bills after submitting my monthly reading to them on the (still active) the GBES portal. No further communication - written or otherwise - ever materialised from SP. In November 2017 bills started rolling in from SP again, now addressed to the "Current Owner/Occupier" and with a £500+ debt which has since been referred to Face2Face debt recovery. Puzzled by why this whole saga was still a thing I rang Coop again to find out what was going on and to my amazement they casually informed me that they ceased being my energy supplier in December 2016 (!) but when pressed with questions such as how have SP ended up being my supplier, when did I give you permission to make the switch, why I am still receiving bills from you and why are you taking money for an account that has apparently been closed for 12 months, no answers or explanations were forthcoming. Coop have since admitted in a later communication that there had been "a breakdown in communications for which we apologise" but that's all. As I write they are processing a refund for all payments received since the account was closed. So I am left with Scottish Power as my energy supplier which I never asked for nor agreed to, nor wish to have either due to their sky high tariff and abysmal reputation for customer service and incompetency. My question is : in these circumstances is there any contract in place between SP and myself and do I owe them anything from a legal perspective? I appreciate the natural response here would be to simply send them the refunded money from Coop, but the aggro this has caused me and the fact they decided to force themselves upon me as my energy supplier without me having any say in the matter really does not sit well with me. They have completely ignored my request to put me back to how I was with Coop and such tactics should be punished imho. I welcome your advice. Thanks.

I hadn't actually thought such might be possible until seeing bankfodder's thread: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?444374-ScottishPower-%96-do-you-want-to-sue-ScottishPower-in-England-%96-Contact-details but am now interested in doing just that. Cut a lonng story short: I am sick, weary and tired of having to do Scottish Power's work for it in terms of (a) accurate billing and (b) best practice customer service, neither of which seem to me to be concepts that this company even faintly understands. Six months ago it issued me with a final bill on my departure to Sainsburys Energy. (Had I realised at the time that Sainsbury's Energy is just a trading name of British Gas, I'd never have gone to it -- but that's another story.) British Gas / Sainsbury's Energy made a complete shambles of this routine switch and not only "lost" the gas meter reading I provided to it but then went on to give Scottish Power a meter reading entirely of its own invention. Scottish Power, therefore, sent me a Final Bill which bore no relation to my usage. As this wasn't SP's fault, I immediately telephoned -- BAD mistake, but at that stage it had my sympathies -- and spoke to an SP rep who brought my account details up on screen and within mere seconds said they had a logarithm (or 'formula'? Can't remember which: both words may've been used) that they ran to check a disputed bill. It was obvious from that, or so I was assured, that the meter reading they'd received from BGSE was wrong. I now provided the meter reading given to BGSE some six weeks earlier and was told the following: 'We will take this up with your new supplier as it's clear that a mistake has been made. Until we have sorted out the facts of the matter, the bill we have issued to you is suspended. This means you do not have to pay anything and you do not have to do anything until we contact you again with a revised bill.' (Note: rightly or wrongly, I don't trust any UK utility company to look after me or my money. Shortly before the switch to my new supplier occurred, I therefore cancelled my monthly Direct Debit payment to Scottish Power on the basis that I'd rather pay it what I owed than have it taking my money and, in the event of a billing dispute, being obstructive about paying any of it back.) Meantime, my supply continued from BGSE. I also received an apology from it for the mess it had made of my switch. As I'd been told not to do anything until hearing back from SP, I left it at that. It wasn't until August that SP got in touch again. I received by surface mail and by email a letter headed FINAL DEMAND requiring that I immediately pay an amount owing from March. The amount was higher than the original, "suspended" bill. No accompanying documentation was provided by way of explanation of how this FINAL DEMAND had been calculated. No explanation was offered as to how I was in receipt of a 'demand' that was 'final' when no other 'demands' had ever preceded it. Thus began a protracted to-ing and fro-ing of email correspondence which achieved nothing other than the waste of many hours of my time. SP's emails were, to my mind, a disgrace, each one beginning with a scripted 'apology' as cosmetic as it was meaningless, and concluding with an invitation for me to go online if I still had a problem because SP was sure I could find "answers" there. I repeatedly provided SP with all the information it needed to act reasonably and responsibly and, at one stage, even seemed to be making progress: one reply I received said that in light of the information I had (repeatedly) provided, the matter was being passed to SP's billing department to investigate with a view to issuing a revised bill if such was appropriate. But I never heard any more about that. Instead, another threatening email arrived -- the usual stuff, about jeopardising my credit record, this despite the fact that I had (repeatedly) said that I was furious about being treated in such intimidatory fashion. This last email was now either a downright lie or an act of blazing incompetence but whichever, it was clearly calculated to make me pay up whether I owed SP the amount stated or not: for the first time, the word "agreed" was incorporated into the text, as in "I can confirm that I have looked into your bill based on the agreed meter readings". Obviously, if the darn things had ever at any time been agreed, then there'd have been no need for me to expend so much effort, disputing the position. It seemed to me I had exhausted whatever level of collective ability -- if any -- might exist in SP Customer Service and so I asked for the matter to be elevated to a managerial level. I also made that request in writing, wasting yet more time reprising the facts. It wasn't merely that I was furious about being patronised / dismissed / misled / and (to my mind) lied to by this company, rather that I had provided SP with inarguable proof of its mis-billing and yet it was giving every appearance of seeking to wilfully ignore that and harass, and threaten, until it had, in so many words, extorted from me monies to which it had no right to claim. If that was how Scottish Power thought it could treat me, then God only knew what it thought it could get away with where a customer, for whatever reason, was less able to challenge its steamroller tactics. SP has sent me no further emails. Instead, I have received an unsigned letter from Pastdue Credit Solutions in which it is claimed that I owe its client a sum of money that is now even higher than the earlier amount owing that was in itself higher than the original bill which an SP representative assured me was "obviously wrong". I have written back to PastDue saying I don't recognise the amount it is saying I must pay immediately and as no supporting documentation was supplied in respect of that claim, would PastDue now kindly correct that omission within the next 7 days. Where we go from here, I'm not sure. A sum in excess of £200 is in dispute. The documented grounds for my challenging SP would instantly demolish its claim in any civil court. I don't, therefore, know if SP would even dare risk going to court -- but am worried (and no consumer should ever have to be "worried" by behaviour as repellent as this) that it might try to sidestep that process and mess up my credit history instead. More than that though: as I said at the start of this post, I am sick, weary and tired of being compelled -- because it is just that: compulsion -- to do Scottish Power's work for it. I have had to repeatedly demonstrate to Customer Service staff how they should be dealing with a genuinely distressed customer; I have had to repeatedly demonstrate how to even calculate a bill. All the hours invested in such labour have been wasted. But why should I be the one who is penalised for the indifference, the incompetence, and the sheer intimidation that is so evident here? I've no idea of what, let's say, a CS manager gets at Scottish Power but if it's £25k a year then I can't see why I shouldn't be on that same hourly-equivalent rate seeing as I've been required to do that same job . So-oo . .. Back to Bankfodder's original thread. I would really, really like to sue this company for compensation in regard to my time wasted / distress caused etc etc, using as a yardstick of claim the equivalent cost of 15 hours' CS Management pay. I haven't done the math because I've only just thought of it but that's by the by. The main question here is: Has any ordinary consumer ever attempted to sue a UK utility company and if so, on what basis / for what amount / and was her / his action successful? I'm guessing that at some point along the line, SP is going to have to roll over and may even offer to make a "goodwill" payment or "goodwill" gesture, coupled with an apology about how a technical hitch occurred or a misunderstanding arose or SP has been dealing with system problems which it has now overcome and really honestly genuinely we're very very sorry, never happen again, blah-blah-blah. But that "goodwill" will be as counterfeit as any and all of its apologies. That "goodwill" will make it appear it has never done anything wrong, and that it is a utility company fit and proper to hold a UK operating licence. Well: I don't want to allow it to skip away into the convenient obfuscation of "goodwill". I want Scottish Power punished. And I want Scottish Power's money in my pocket -- not my money in its.

First of all, not sure where to put this. I did look for a forum specifically about gas/electric suppliers but couldn't see it. Apologies if I missed something obvious. Ok, I was with Scottish Power for Gas and Electric. They were great, then my gas metre (prepayment) stopped working. I put my card in, it beeped, and the liquid diode screen stopped showing anything. We were worried. It was getting close to Christmas (2013) and we had a 3 year old son, it was cold, he had asthma and could do without the chance of catching anything. I suffer from really bad anxiety, and had setup my Scottish Power account on the internet. I spoke to an online help assistant, who assured me that their online help was fantastic, and whilst phone calls usually got an immediate answer, an email through their accounts page would be far quicker than post and still get a response ASAP. so I emailed, and waited. And waited. And Emailed, and waited. And posted letters, and waited, and emailed and posted and waited. I tried to phone, but I was just a jibbering mess. With me worried about my son, it just made my anxiety worse. I tried to top up £5 on card, just to see if it beeped so we knew we could put money on but nothing happened. We knew it accepted our last £40 top up, so we just hoped that we would get an answer before it ran out. Over Christmas we put extra electric on, we never used the central heating. Our gas just warms the water and heating, everything else is electric. So we got a couple of electric powered oil radiators. They did the job of keeping our small house warm, but we were still worried that the gas would run out. We kept water use to a minimum, baths mainly. We took to doing dishes with water pre-boiled in the kettle. After Christmas I kept sending requests for help. 1 letter by post, 2 via their email service, every month. Still no answer. By february, we'd still not run out of gas and came to the conclusion that the meter must be broken, but the supply is still permanently active. We'd got used to how we were doing things, so we didn't suddenly use as much gas as possible. We carried on as normal just happy to know that we wouldn't run out of hot water for baths and if we REALLY needed to, we could put the heating on for a bit. We still kept emailing every couple of weeks, explaining the situation. Eventually in June, we got a response. Someone would come and help, and an appointment would be made and a letter sent out. We never got a letter. No one showed up. In August we did get a bill. £227 for gas if I remember (cant access it now, as my account is closed and it was online) I immediately emailed a complaint. Obviously, never got a response. Throughout all of the end of 2014, I continued to complain, and try and get help. At the same time, I was also getting treating for my anxiety which wasn't going to well. By the end of 2014 I was beyond annoyed with Scottish Power, another bill turned up. £313 Anxiety be damned, I got the phone and made a call. I stammered and struggled through an argument about the service and the account. I got an apology and the promise someone would be out to fix the meter that week. Sure enough, they came and replaced it. I got back to paying for my gas. A month later, a reminder bill was emailed. £313 again. I was annoyed, I phoned up and complained and left for another company, who have been great. But Scottish Power, of course, still wanted their money. In May they contacted me for this £313. I said I cant afford it, and I dispute the amount. Apparently they read the meter when it was returned and £313 was accurate (somehow matching exactly their estimated bill) I said I would pay £1 a month, it's all I can afford now I'm paying Electric and Gas to a new company who actually give me working meters. Not good enough, they want at least £40 a month or they will pass it to a debt collector. I told them I still dispute the bill and think £150 would have been a fair final bill, which is 356 days of standing charges, even though I spent every day wondering if I actually had it standing or if it would vanish. Nope. £40 or it goes to debt collection. I couldn't afford it, so had no choice but to let them pass it on. I was told it would take 30 days to lapse allocated payment time, and then go to DCA. In November, I got a message from LCS, collecting on behalf of Scottish Power, they'd added an extra £50 to my bill as Admin charges. They seemed to agree that if I dispute my bill, it should not have been passed to them so easily, but they still need paying. I offered £1 a month, they agreed as long as I send the income and expenditure proof required. Which I have done. Now, I suppose I should be happy. This BS with SP has helped me beat some parts of my anxiety, but it's been a ton of stress I did not need. My question is though, is where do I stand here? is there anything else I can do to dispute this? Is there a higher up in Scottish Power I can send a complaint to. Are they within their rights to pass the bill off for collection when I disputed it? Thanks for any help/.

Hi, I wonder if I couold ask for some help regarding our utility supplier Scottish Power Last October we moved into our present home, once in we attempted to set up our utilities online and we managed to get a favorable deal fixed for 12 months. However Scottish Power cancelled both attampts to set these up online and gave no reason for this. we contacted the Energy Ombusman who advised that there was little we could do since we could not provide proof that Scottish Power had cancelled these arrangements. Somehow the cancellation letters had been disgarded in the reorganisation following relocation. What the Ombusman services did say though is that they would broker a deal where we would be allowed to pay them back in an 'Affordable' agreement and that the utility company would offer an apology and a slight concession on the bill. This seemed acceptable and I duly contacted Scottish Power, who were a) Very off hand b) Would not give us an affordable way of paying the amount back other than installing a meter. We have never had the inflexibility of a meter and never been in debt at all and as the problem was caused by them cancelling our agreements and not answering our calls we thought that this was more than a little unfair. we contacted the ombusman services and asked them to re engage and re open the case since Scottish Power were not keeping their part of the agreement which was to help us put in place an affordable solution. Now it appears the Ombusman are just not answering our mails. We are now trying to understand if there is anyone else we can contact to try to assist and move things forward. Any help or suggestions would be most welcome. Citizens advice told us that they could not get involved because the Energy Ombusman was already involved. The point is that they are not helping the situation and appear to now be ignoring our please for help here. We will pay we are just trying to get some sort of decent payment terms from Scottish Power and just asking to be treated reasonably. Many Thanks, John.

I have been a Scottish power Home Comfort customer for 2 years. I contacted SP this morning to report a fault and an engineer was sent to my property. I had removed the cover from the boiler this morning, following the maintenance instructions in the boiler's manual. But, as I'm not an engineer, I decided to leave it be until the engineer arrived. Upon seeing the cover had been removed the engineer refused to repair the boiler. He advised he could repair it (it is repairable), but would not because I had breached my policy by removing the cover. This means my wife, our 4-day-old daughter, and myself are left with out heat and hot water and a £300 bill from Glowworm to repair the boiler sometime next week. The engineer was rude, abrupt, disinterested, and completely unsympathetic to our problem. Terrible service from SP. I previously had problems with SP. Here's a link to last year's problems: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?290116-Scottish-Power-Home-Comfort-cover-problems/page4 Fellow consumer, AVOID SP at all costs!

Hi all, I am new to the forum, probably like many people this is because I have an issue that I am struggling to get resolved with the company concerned. We moved house recently and the incumbent energy provider was Scottish Power, we gave them our readings, then moved to British Gas. As this forum is not for specific topics I'll leave it there but all we want is a bill to pay! The company in question seem more interested in sending debt collection agents after us for a wildly inaccurate amount, than providing us with an accurate bill (in fact, any bill at all would be a start... still not had a single bill from them) that we will be more than happy to pay in full. Any pointers on where best to post this would be much appreciated. Yours hopefully, BBRDave

Hi all, I changed provider away from Scottish Power in Feb this year, I expected a final account for my duel fuel tariff, instead I received two bills one for gas and one for electricity, neither of which bore my original account number. the gas bill merely showed an outstanding balance, while the electricity bill showed 3 payments of £34 and a final charge. Now as I paid £73 per month for the duel fuel account, there was no correlation. I contacted SP and requested a correct final bill showing how the figures were arrived at and all payments made to the account. They have totally ignored my repeated emails reiterating that I owe the outstanding amounts shown on both bills. I have been provided with anything by which I can check if the bill is correct and of course the online account has now been closed and all the previous bills are no longer available. this week I received a letter from Insight (in house DCA) threatening all sorts of dire consequences if I don't kow-tow to their demands including "the registering of a default against your credit file" As this is not a credit account I find this a surprise to say the least. So my questions:- 1. Can they register a credit default? 2. How do I get them to provide a final bill so that I can can check it validity, ? many thanks

Hi ive recieved this today and its a little worrying so was hoping someone can advise on what i can do. ResolveCall. Dear sir/madam despite several attempts we have been unable to contact you to discuss the above Scottish power energy retail limited account. this being the case, we will now apply to the local magistrate for a warrant of entry under the rights of entry (gas and electric) act 1954 one of our agents from resolvecall will attend dudley L.J.A magistrates' clerk's office, the inhedge, dudley dy1 1ry on the 28/1/2011 at 0915 hrs. in order to obtain the warrant, you are entitled to attend. once obtained the warrant will enable us to lawfully access your premises in order to disconnect your supply, the warrant will be executed within the next 28 days, all related costs including locksmith charges are payable by yourself and will be persued along with the outstanding debt. these costs will be a minimum of £275. should you have any queries regarding the warrant application or any other issues please do not hesitate to contact 0844 257 8535 yours faithfully june hart

I was wondering if anyone had complained about Scottish Power setting Direct Debit levels too high. IE not based on previous or current usage, and/or current or future pricing. I have, and they continue to do the same thing despite always accepting my figures are more accurate than those that they generate automatically. It's basically them using you as a bank to lend money for free ! I complained to the ombudsman - the initial response was that they are acting within the rules. IE it is OK to take more money than they should, systematically without any logic, reason or explanation. I have read the rules (called the gas supply licence) and believe that Scottish Power are acting outside their licence. see here and refer to section 27.14 27.15 and 27.16 I have now replied back to the ombudsman saying I don't accept their finding and recommendation to reject my complaint. I would be interested to hear of others in a similar situation either with Scottish Power or other companies. I see that nPower have been caught out doing this to the tune of £400 MILLION See here I wonder how much Scottish Power have in the bank from taking too much out of their customers accounts. Feels like highway robbery if you ask me.

Have had a frustrating Saturday evening and now most of Sunday failing to contact Scottish Power. Battery has failed on prepayment meter and cant get through to anyone. Automated system just keeps telling me renter my account number. Have now done this hundreds of times. Any advice from anyone out there? I am now freezing!

Morning All, Have a bit of a situation with Scottish Power and Buchanan Clark and Wells, which I need some advice on.... Left Scottish Power with a final gas and electric bill. Paid the electric bill, which they allocated to the gas account, and made a payment arrangement proposal along with a partial payment to the gas account. All of this was done in writing. The cheques were cashed, but no response received. Made another two monthly payments directly to Scottish Power, in accordance to the payment arrangement proposal. Letters were sent asking for responses to the previous letters. In the meantime, I was notified that a default was going to be registered against me for the electricity account, which they said was still outstanding, despite me sending proof! I finally managed to raise a complaint directly with Scottish Power, which in turn led to a removal of the default, and an offer of £50.00 compensation. I accepted the offer, but didn't accept their explanation as to why my letters were not being responded to. Any way.....I owe £52.00 and have told them that I would make the payment by the end of the month. Whats bothering me is Buchanan Clark and Wells..... They have been writing to me for nearly 3 months, threatening me with court action home visits etc. I sent them the following: Dear Sir/Madam, Further to your letter dated 3rd August 2013, please note the following: An official complaint has been instigated regarding the actions of Scottish Power. A payment plan is currently in place with Scottish Power, and is being maintained in accordance to that arrangement. In response to the contents of your letter: 1. Application to the court to obtain a county court judgement. I invite BCW to take me to court, whilst: a. A payment plan is being maintained, and such BCW would have difficulty obtained a judgement in their favour. b. An official complaint has been lodged against the claimant. 2. Threat of warrant of execution. This threat cannot be executed without a county court judgement being obtained. 3. Refer the account to a third party agent to visit me. Please be advised that I will only communicate with you in writing. I have noted your repeated attempts to contact me over the past few weeks and these have been duly logged by time and date. Should it be your intention to arrange a doorstep visit, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make such an appointment with you. There is an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v Sheppard & Short Ltd [1959] 2 QB 384. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and, if you do so, you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance. Please also note that the amount being sought by BCW is incorrect. In light of the above, please also be advised of the following, that should it become necessary to write to you further, I will be charging for the time that is involved in responding. A charge of £25.00 will be made and will become due within 7 days of any response being issued. They then wrote to me with a final response letter: It started off along the lines of BCW acts in good faith, we haven't heard anything from our client so the debt is due etc. But here is where it gets interesting..... With regards to doorstep visit, this was their response: The case you have referred to is not applicable to your circumstances. As part of the agreement that you signed and entered into, you agreed to repay the full outstanding balance and that where necessary the creditor could recover the debt to a third party, which included by way of doorstep collection. We are entitled by law and under contract to recover monies outstanding and we are allowed to take reasonable steps in accordance with regulatory guidelines to recover such monies. The OFT's Guidance on Debt Collection reference to making an appointment on field visits relates to, where say, the Agent has called round and advised by the customer that it was not a convenient time, then he should make another appointment. appointment is not necessary for the initial visit. If however, the customer is not there at the agreed time, then the agent can call again at an unscheduled time. With reference to the response charges that I would be serving them with: Please note that there is and will not be any agreement as alleged or at all in the aforementioned letter with BCW Group (Gothia) Limited or the original creditor that will result in monetary remuneration under the terms outlined in your letter. Any such agreement alleged or otherwise is hereby rejected and not recognised by BCW Group (Gothia) Limited or the original creditor. I have refrained from responding to them, until seeking some advice, but I received a letter today from BCW telling me that they would be sending a doorstep collection agent to me in the next seven days. I have 2 questions..... Is the doorstep collection allowed given the response BCW have made? Are BCW correct in their response about me charging them £25.00 to respond to them? Normally, I would not bother with this, but after 8 letters to Scottish Power, 6 letters to HL Solicitors, and 4 letters to BCW, I'm getting a bit frustrated..... I've posted this not to get a comment regarding my situation with Scottish Power but to clarify the position that the debt collector now states. It may be useful to other caggers, for clarification.

Hi All Thought I'd let you all know what's happened with Scottish Power and myself. Last summer I had a door to door salesman call by selling on behalf of Scottish Power, I don't normally do this but I listened to what he had to say as I was already thinking of leaving British Gas. The deal sounded too good to be true £35 a month Gas and the same for Electric if I paid by direct Debit. He said this would be capped until 2012 - It would never go up no matter how much I use, and I would never get a bill at the end of the contract if I had used more. he also said that if their prices drop, so would my payments. Ok i thought and signed up - only after checking and double checking this was right and they couldn't charge me anymore than £70 a month. The day after - I rang the call centre and went through this again, i checked they wouldnt take anymore than the £70 and was it defintely capped - the answer was yes. Fast forward to today and they have taken £106!!!! They tell me that they can do this if I use more energy etc etc and that I had used more over the winter!!! furious isnt the word, I told them they have lied and missold the contract etc etc and she agreed to refund the £36 and drop me back to £70 a month. However it could go up next winter if my usage does etc etc and that if I don't pay what I have used I will build up a debt with them... I have raised a formal complaint meanwhile.. So, now I am planning to use them during the winter months as it is sticking at what was agreed however I plan to break the contract and change to another later in the year. Has anyone else had this and what did you do??? Thanks

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me out with a problem I'm having with Scottish Power. I moved into my new flat at the start of September, having previously lodged so hadn’t had an electricity provider for several years. The electricity provider at the flat was Scottish Power but I wanted to go to LoCO2 so never got in touch with Scottish Power. I sent all my details, including a reading from the day I moved in, to LoCO2 in the assumption that it would just be back dated. In hindsight that was not the correct thing to do, but I really didn’t know. Anyway, about two weeks ago a debt collection agency got in touch demanding payment of £45 on behalf of Scottish Power. I was quite bewildered as I had never even received a bill or reminders from Scottish Power. I got in touch with LoCO2 who told me that indeed I should have let Scottish Power know but they provided me with the switch over ‘readings’ so that at least I knew approximately what the bill was about. I then phoned Scottish Power, explained the situation and was told that I had been sent two bills, and according to the man I spoke to, that I had paid one of them (in cash, possibly at the post office according to him)! I suspected that these bills had been addressed to the previous tenant and so would have been forwarded to him. After I strongly protested that I had never even received a bill, let alone paid one, he suggested he send copies of the two bills, so that I could check whether they had been addressed to the previous tenant. This was two weeks ago and I still haven’t received any mail from Scottish Power at my address. However, I am being called by the debt collection agency who not only wants me to pay a bill I have never even seen but also pay a 15% administration fee. Although I explained the situation, they of course just want me to pay and are threatening me with legal action and to ruin my credit rating. It’s not that I object to paying Scottish Power for the month between moving in and starting with my new provider but I do want to see a bill before I pay and I certainly object to paying a debt collector as I don’t feel it is my fault that I haven’t paid. Can anybody help me out as I really don’t know what to do with this? Thanks.

Hi, I have a problem with ScottishPower. I lived in a small 1 bedroom flat by myself from Oct 09- Sept-10, and I didn't get any bills whilst I was there. When I moved into the property, the Landlord did not mention anything about the bills, he just said I was responsible for the council tax, and looking back, I probably should have asked him then, but nevermind. When it came to about 4 weeks from me moving out, a bill finally arrived, for the sum of £950-ish (not entirely sure). I was obviously gobsmacked, that after nearly a year they had finally sent me a bill, and a bill that no where near reflects my usage. So I contacted Scottish Power, and I remember giving them some meter readings of sorts but before anything could be sorted out I was in the middle of a stressful move from my flat to another one. I did make sure to send a letter to Scottish Power with my new forwarding address, also left one for my landlord. I moved to my new place, and didn't hear from Scottish Power until a year later of moving into my new flat. I didn't hear from Scottish Power though, it was a debt collection company Buchanan Wells & Clark requesting payment for Scottish Power for over £1500!! I was annoyed to say the least, so I have contacted Scottish Power and opened a complaint with them, not expecting the complaint to go far, because who are they going to side with? Themselves. Scottish Power have now sent me a final account bill of £1112.42 for the time I was at the property, after trying to bill me from 0ctober 2009 to january 2011. They have offered me a 18 month payment plan of £61 pounds a month, which to be honest if far to high for me, I earn a pitiful income as I am on apprentice wage and get paid £95 a week. Also, this bill is an Estimated Bill, and its nearly £200 more than the bill I remember getting just before I moved. Surely there is something wrong here? Scottish Power want my tenancy agreement or meter reading, both of which I do not have, its been more than a year since I lived there, and I have no contact details for the landlord. This has been a really bad experience for me, and to be honest I am not happy at the way I've been treated. Is there anything I can do to get this stupidly infalted bill reduced?? There is no way 1 person can use that much electricity in a small 1 bedroom flat, especially as I am careful with wasting energy, I lived in my parents 8 bedroom house with my 5 brothers and sisters and we had a pre pay meter, and we never got through more than £10 a week! If anybody has any advice, or previous experience I would really appreciate some help, thank you for taking the time to read this very long post.

Hi I have had my flat for a year I have a pre pay meter. A month ago I came home to find my meter had been changed a letter said to contact scottish power as my meter had been tampered with. I did so and was told there was no problem my meter has just been changed and I would be sent out a new key. Then today I get a letter saying they were adding a £230 for electricity I had stolen. I contacted thier revenue department and spoke with someone. She said the engineer had changed my meter and made a report that the supply had been bypassed and I was being billed for the esimated electricity I had stolen. They estimated it right back to when I moved in. I asked why werent the police called as I have no knowledge of it being bypassed. She said we dont do that we just change the meter and bill you for the electricity you have stolen. I said I hadnt stolen any electricity. She says their engineers report says I have..end of. I said hang on you come out change my meter, dont tell me anything at the time, dont give me any evidence other than our engineer made a report, and on that you accuse me of theft and add £££ to my account. Yes was the answer but you can appeal against it if you want. There was no manager to speak to and she said to write in with an appeal. How do I stand here I feel Ive been stitched up. I spoke to my housing assn and they dont get involved in disputes with power companies. She did suggest that perhaps the previous tennant had by passed the supply and reconnected it before I moved in and suggested I ask them to check before I moved in. I am going to write in but the attitude I got when I rang I cant see it doing much. How do I stand has any one else had similar happen. I have just applied to another supplier to take over my supply because I dont want to pay this money, its already onmy key to be taken. Will a change be possible or will whats happened cause problems. Thanks Im really concerned and confused

Hi I rent out my 1 bedroom flat and have had a notice of pending legal action from BCW DCA it was addressed with my name but to the flat's address taht I rent out which was forwarded to me. Obvisouly I have not lived there in years and never instructed Scottish Power to supply me with their services. I phoned BCW and tried to explain I do not live there and asked for the dates to narrow down the tenant which the debt relates to. There was 2 tenants between these 2 dates so I have emailed one of their tenancy agreements and the other tenants Scottish Power account number which was settled as this was my sister with no formal tenancy agreement also I sent the second tenants moving meter readings all to general at bcwgroup.com with my reference (as instructed by the rude adviser). What annoyed me was that the adviser threatened my credit rating would be punished if I do not provide this information. Is there anything else I should do to make sure here is no further back lash on myself as the debt is not even mine? Thanks in advance.

I am a widow with 2 children and only get a widows pension I therefore have a pre-payment meter from Scottish Power to ensure that I can budget my money (what little there is) and ensure I do not get into debt. I put £15 per week on my key which just about covers us for a week. Today I received a letter from SP saying I had a debt on my account of £336. Obviously I called them straight away, not understanding how this could be possible, surely it wasn't!! They said my meter was set incorrectly and I can pay £11.35 pw until Dec and the debt will be paid. I simply cannot afford that. I have sent a complaint to their complaints dept and waiting to hear back but until it is sorted I am lumbered with this debt Has anyone else come across this and surely I shouldn't have to pay for their mistake and can i switch suppliers