Quarterly bill of £1200 + and now threatened with Bailiff action

[zosaphine]

To cut a long story short:

 

1) we bought our house from new build in Sept 2002

2) on the day we moved in, meter readings were submitted to Scottish Power who the building firm had set up accounts with for the whole estate.

3) Scottish power set up a DD for a specific amount each month, after asking how many occupants, rooms, radiators etc.

4) last year we received our usual quarterly bill, except it said we owed in excess of £1200:eek:

5) Scottish Power sent someone to test the meter, which is outside our front window and accessible to anyone with the standard key for the box.

6) They said it was because they had taken actual meter readings, and this was the discrepancy which caused this balance and as we'd used it, we had to pay for it.

7) We paid a lump sum of aprox £400.

8) Our monthly DD was increased to £120 pcm to cover ongoing usage & towards the debt.

9) this was paid monthly untill last month my car develeped a fault & the repair cost meant i couldnt afford to pay last months DD.

 

So:

a knock goes at the door whilst i am changing my babies nappy, i go downstairs and no one was there. Just as i am about to close the door, a man pops his head round the corner and said "Sorry love, was just taking a meter reading.. whilst i'm here, i notice you have an outstanding balance of £488, when will it be cleared?" I explained what had happened and that payments would commence when i was paid again.

 

I then get a letter from Grosvenor Legal Services & Bailiff's confirming the payment arrangement i had entered into with their Bailiff :eek:

 

At no point did he say who he was, or show ID.. he made out he worked for SP & was taking meter readings! i rang them immediately to complain about this deception and was told "well you should have asked for his ID".

 

maybe i should... but dont they have a duty to advise who they are & show this automatically?

 

 

having discussed this with a friend who used to work for BG - she asked if the £1200 debt had been averaged out since the last meter reading, or if all calculated at the date the last actual reading was taken.

 

As far as i am aware, meter readings had never been taken since we moved in.

 

This Monday I emailed SP Customer services & titled Formal Compaint and i explained how the debt occured and requested

 

1) Details of dates when meter readings were taken & what the readings were.

2) if the £1200 balance was calculated at the rate the reading was taken or averaged out.

3) a copy of their calculation on how it was calculated and the rates used.

 

Today - I receive a letter from Grosvenor Legal Services & Bailiff's demanding full repayment of the £488 within 7 days, otherwise i can appear at my Local Magistrates court in early November at a hearing for them to apply for warrant of entry & disconnection to be granted in Devember, and the forced entry will be made in january!

 

What can i do from here? Until i have the details from Scottish Power, i do not know if the bill is correct. i hadnt known they had a duty to read bills at set periods, so i had just accepted we had to pay up... even if they are overcharging us (IFKWIM?)

 

How can i get Grosvenor off my back, and what can i quote and specifically request - anyone in the know on here??

 

 

I forgot to add, at the bottom of Grosvenors latest letter, it states an additional amount of £37 has been added because of the Bailiff's visit..

Edited October 24, 2008 by zosaphine
Forgot to add point about bailiff fee's

[SharpmanTF1]

bump

[lookinforinfo]

Zosaphine, if you look at the Grosvenor Legal website you will see that they are a firm of debt collectors and bailiffs. I suspect that it was probably one of their debt collectors who called on you rather than a bailiff. Had it been a bailiff they would have had a warrant and would have already have been legally entitled to collect the outstanding amount. The fact that there is an upcoming Court case would appear to suggest that they have not yet permission to send round a bailiff.

 

You must go to Court on the due date and point out that it is their fault. They had the original meter reading and a direct debit set up. They should have read the meter more often. Now they are charging you at todays prices for power that you have had over the previous months and years when the power costs were less. Therefore their current bill is wrong and thus the debt they are claiming from you is unenforceable I believe. I don't think the Judge will accept their debt figure and as is often the case with Scottish Power, it seems, they have overreacted by going to Court before the dispute has been resolved. Point out to the Judge thay they have been too quick going to Court as you were still in negotiations with them when the case was sent to Court.

 

But whatever else happens, you must go to the hearing. Should you fail to do so the amount will be automatically rubber stamped by the Court and you will be lumbered with that amount. If you go you have a good chance of getting some sort of result from the Judge.

[zosaphine]

An update:

I have not received a response from Scottish Power, despite their email acknowledgment saying it would be 5 working days.

 

I also emailed Grosvenor Legal Services to advise of the dispute & a full explanation. This was sent this weekend. Amazingly I received an email response from them this morning!

 

Dear Mxx Xxxxxx

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Scottish Power has confirmed that we are to continue with debt follow up action on your account. You will need to pay the outstanding balance in full before the warrant date of 8TH January 2009 to avoid any further action and possible disconnection of your supplies.

We work on behalf of Scottish Power and carry out their instructions, should you require any further information regarding your utility usage and tariff ‘s you will need to contact Scottish Power on 0845 2700895.

 

Many Thanks

Jxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx

Customer Liaison Officer

Grosvenor Legal Services

Am I correct in thinking Scottish Power cannot continue with Legal proceedings until they have proved that the disputed bill is correct?

 

 

[Clare_L]

Hi

 

Just want to ask a few questions, since 2002 have they read your meter at least every 2 years? Were the bills estimated? If the meter is outside the property then why was the meter never read? These are a few of the questions to need to get clarified by SP. IF they read the meter but never used the readings and continued to bill you on estimates then this would be where the billing code of practise would come in. They can then only back bill you one year as they would be the ones responsible for getting you into debt. Also as it was a new build, may also be worth checking that they are billing you for the correct meter. check the msn on your bill and make sure it matches the one on your meter.

[zosaphine]

Hi Clare

Thanks for your reply.

 

This is what i have disputed, as the info i have to hand is that has potentially always been estimated: hence the large quarterly bill after us paying them on time every month for a period of 5 years!

 

I have requested the following info from SP, however i am still awaiting their reply:

 

1) What rate was the large bill charged at?

 

2) Was it at the rate at the time of the actual meter reading taken used?

 

3) Or was it calculated at the rates used (averaged out) since the last actual meter reading was taken? As far as I know this was in September 2002 when we moved in.

 

4) Please provide me with this information, together with a copy of your detailed calculation.

 

5) Also, I wish to be given the dates on which you have recorded ‘actual’ meter readings & what these were.

 

It amazes me, that they have instructed Grosvenor to continue with Court action knowing there is a dispute!

 

Our meters are both at the front of our property, accessible with the standard triangular shaped key. There are no gates, fences, walls etc at the front of our properties on the estate. It is 100% readily accessible. The fact that the man from Grosvenor took meter readings highlights this!

 

Could you clarify the Billing Code of Practice for me?

Edited October 27, 2008 by zosaphine
to say about where our meter is..

[Clare_L]

I would call them and follow this up as soon as possible. Have you ever provided any readings too in the time you have lived there?

 

The billing code would work in your case ONLY if you have NEVER been billed OR that they never used meter readings provided by either yourself or a meter reader. Now its the last part that may come into play with regards to your bill, but you need this information from SP. IF your meter has been read, but they didnt use those readings then they cannot back bill you further then one year. Regardless of this, they need to replace the charges on ALL your bills to evenly distribute the bill on previous pricing!

[Clare_L]

The Energy Retail Association - Customer Billing

 

This is the Billing Code Of Pratice.

[zosaphine]

Thanks for the info Clare.

 

We both admit, we'd never noticed we were just getting estimated bills. Had we done, then we would have provided readings.

 

I guess we were spoilt in our previous home, as the supplier we had then, sent someone to read the meter twice a year religiously! I just hadn't realised not all providers did this.

 

We now send in readings every quarter online, having experienced this!

 

That was my thinking, they cannot bill me the full amount at 2007 pricing.. it needs to be averaged back to when they last had actual readings... I'm determined to get this info from them.

 

Do you think i should SAR them?

 

I'm keeping copies of everything i do have to show the Magistrate at the hearing. I'm hoping he/she will have a fairly dim view of them taking me to court to disconnect over this matter, which they seem happy to leave unresolved..

[Clare_L]

Well they are legally obliged to read your meter at least once every 2 years. They may well have read it, which is what you need to establish and just not used the readings and this is where you will be able to get them to write off the majority of the bill. All providers have a duty to read your meter!

 

You can request an SAR but you have to allow them 40 days to send this to you unfortunatley.

 

I would also print off a copy of the Billing Code and take that with you.