scottish power pre pay problem

[lovelybubbly]

Hello

We moved into a new property yesterday and when we went to read the meter as a new customer for scottish power we found prepay meters. we have been onto sp and fair enough have had someone out tonight to reset the elec meter and gave us a number to purchase cards with until the card is posted out. But my concern is the gas meter. we have no card to pre pay that one with. The way the girl from sp explained it it that we would have to wait for our card to be posted and then take it to an outlet to recieve a signal, put it into our meter and then everything is fine. Both meters have debt on them, the elec meter is sorted out but not the gas. Until the new card turns up we have no means of paying for gas and it could go off at any time - balance £3.60 plus a debt of god knows how much. Now, I probably did wrong and phoned this emergency number for sp and explained that with two small children under five, the possibility of the gas meter stopping through no fault of ours would mean no heating and hot water. She couldnt help. do you know who can?

Thank you

Rachel

[cocococo]

hi , sorry to hear about your situation , the same happened to us , we were with scottish power and we just rang them and they came out and put emergency credit on until card comes through post they put £25 on to last , ring them back and be firm tell them you have 2 kids under 5 and you need heating esp in this weather , its not your fault there are no cards left to top up ect

 

good luck to you

[ozzywizard]

You do not have to wait for your card as this will not clear the debt off the meter. You need to phone them back and ask for a decom recom which meens an engineer will come out to your meter to reset (decommision and recomission it) this type of appointment fully resets the meter and when engineer leaves there will be 10 pound credit on the meter which is to last you till your card arrives.

This is a same day appointment with national grid but needs booking through your supplier.

[lovelybubbly]

Thank you for your replies, after having a look on the energy watch website and complaining by email to sp, that did nothing to help. So, yet again, this morning I rang to complain stating that sp are overcharging a new customer by keeping me waiting for this awful meter to reset and what a poor show it is especially with sp knowing that there is a debt attached via the previous owner. I obviously got someone who was in a good and helpful mood and after saying that I need someone to decom and recom the meter (thanks ozzywizard) I had someone at my door within the hour, how good is that?! All is well now and I am paying just for my gas and noone elses. Many thanks, I am very pleased:)

[ozzywizard]

You are very welcome Bubbly, Glad your all sorted out and its good to know all this useless knowledge is not so useless. lol.

[lisel]

Hi,

recently got a substantial refund from SP for my prepayment meter. Decided to switch Cos and went with British Gas for both gas and electricity supply..all going well so far, then I received a stinking letter from a debt collection agency on behalf of SP telling me that I owed them £142 as I was in debt! Folowed quickly by one which said I owed £122!! Wrote to them telling them how on earth can I be in debt when a) Im not your customer b) you have just given me a refund and c) I PAY FOR MY ELECTRICITY AS I USE IT! British Gas assured me that they would tell SP that I had moved over to them, I told SP the same thing when I decided i was going to do it and I sent them back their little purple pay as you go key, ( which they told me when I used it I wouldnt ever have to let another meter reader in again as they could do it all from the readings from machine in my top up outlet when I purchased electricity), and assumed they DID know all this as they sent me a 'why dont you stay with us' letter.

have contacted energy watch and the ombudsman and several other contact names from SP and have Cc'd them all the same letters. Threatening calls from the debt agency have stopped since Friday so will see what happens now!