Scottishpower Falsifying Information on Gas Bill to try and Cover their Incompetence

[TriP]

well, so a lot of things have become clearer since the last time i posted.

 

to briefly recap -- i was sent a bill in november for £1331 worth of gas usage. i've been a tenant in this rather small newbuild bungalow since august 11th, when i took over the tenancy from my deceased father. he was severely disabled so i took care of all his bills, and knew everything that was coming into or going out of the household. he had been a tenant here since november 2006 (when the property was built). after speaking to xoserve we were under the impression that the meter was unregistered and since there has never been a gas bill since the property was built, we thought "fair enough" and left it at that, thinking we were enjoying free gas from a botched supply that somehow slipped through the cracks.

 

well turns out the meter was installed by an independent supplier, so xoserve simply didn't have a record of it, and scottishpower did indeed have a claim to it.

 

in any case, on to my point:

 

here's the way the bill (which was sent to "the occupier") was broken up (mind you, and this is important -- scottishpower has NEVER sent anyone around to read the meter, and NEVER sent a bill before):

 

Balance of previous bill: £0.00

 

for the period of 22/11/08 to 30/11/08 (that's a week):

reading: [email protected] (109 units) = £46.56

 

for the period of 01/12/08 to 11/12/09 (346 days):

reading: [email protected] (2659 units) = £1135.86

 

then comes the standing charge, vat, etc etc.

 

anybody else see something wrong with this picture?

 

where's the period from 11/2006 to 11/2008? apparently according to them, no one was using any gas in the house for two years, and the ENTIRE amount (i checked the meter and indeed it was at ~30000) was run up in the last year. LOL.

 

it is now just over 2 months later and i just had a look at the meter again -- it now reads 30943. that's an increase of around a thousand in two months (which is quite low considering recent temperatures, is what i'm saying).

 

scottishpower is CLEARLY falsifying data on the bill in order try to make me pay for over 3 years worth of gas consumption during which they never bothered to read the meter. i've told their bailiffs who've been knocking that if they're prepared to divide that bill by 6 (the 5 months i've lived here out of over 3 years), then perhaps i'd be willing to work something out with them. they've now threatened to force their way in to install a prepayment meter and to remove goods.

 

i told them to go f*** themselves and that i'd be the one seeking legal action for their obvious attempt to defraud me.

 

i really don't want this to go to court, but i was told the ombudsman wouldn't be much help and scottishpower refuses to budge. any ideas?

Edited January 25, 2010 by TriP

[huxleypig69]

When I moved into a flat a few years back British Gas tried charging me £400 odd for the previous tennants bill.

 

They were adamant it was right until, during one of my many phone calls to them, the woman on the phone one day let it slip that there was 2 account numbers active on the address (mine was only 1 of them).

 

When I got them to cancel the other account number the bill miraculously went down to what I'd expect.

 

Firstly, you don't have to let the Bailiff's in. In fact, don't do it, not only will they charge you for the priveledge but they can then use it against you.

 

They need a warrant to enter and disconnect/put in a prepayment meter but you can challenge this when they apply for it at court. They CAN'T break in to remove goods.