Scottish Hydro - threatening to cut me off.

[Fuzzgin]

OK, this may not be urgent as I did phone and they agreed that it was wrong, but I'm worried that there's a problem that will return. I'd appreciate any advice in getting to the bottom of it.

 

I'm with Scottish Hydro Electic. Not got any gas. I pay monthly by DD. £30 per month up to now and when I got my last bill I was almost £30 in credit which I got refunded. I tend to be about £20 in credit. I have storage heaters and have "Heating control energy" and standard energy. My storage heaters were switched off at the wall in March and haven't been on since. I live alone and I'm careful with electricity. Energy saving bulbs, go round switching things off, nothing on standby.

 

I got a bill yesterday. Reading from 27/2 -31/8. They claimed I owed £235 and my DD needed to go up to £74. So I panicked and phoned them, did some readings and gave the serial numbers of my meters and the employee said it sounded right and went to speak to his manager whe he confirmed that I was now in credit which sounded right. My problem is that I can see this happening again because my readings weren't that different to theirs, just that they don't make sense.

 

It's the heating control that's gone up. From 369 units to 4751 units. 4382 units compared to my standard energy which has increased by 667. So on my (cheaper) night time electricity I owe(d?) £264 compared to £90. I haven't even been using it! As I said earlier the storage heaters are switched off and I don't use power at night. Everything is switched off and unplugged. Except my fridge/freezer. But it's on in the day as well.

 

Does anyone have any idea what the cause could be. I don't know a lot about electricity but this must be wrong. Help!!!!

[nottslad]

there's a possibility your meter reads are being transposed - the wrong reading is being put in the wrong box causing the bill to be incorrect, this would make it more costly

[Fuzzgin]

Hi Nottslad. How would I know if this is happenning?

 

I've checked it again since and it's now going up by about 4 units a day and has been on average since the reading. This makes slightly more sense although not entirely as I don't know what is going through that meter. The storage heaters are off. Water heater perhaps? The period shown suggested I was using an average of 24.34 units a day which came to £1.47 (a.k.a. a huge bill) which made no sense. Now it's back to 24p a day which makes a lot more sense. I'm checking it regularly. And trying not to do manual calculations after a glass of wine as I was getting quite stressed last night.

[nottslad]

You need to check that the right meter is being billed on the right rate, it really depends what type of metering you have as to how the set up would work, and I'm not an expert on metering

 

What type of water heating do you have? is it on all day? Or is it wired in to the economy 7 and just works overnight. As there could possibly be a fault with the timeswitch which differentiates which rate the electricity being used should be recorded on.

[Fuzzgin]

I think I've deflected that threat but their letters are just awful.

 

When I moved into my flat I had a prepayment meter and was paying about £25-30 per month. I live alone and I have storage heaters. It's a one bedroom flat.

 

They changed the payment options for the prepayment system and so I asked to have a standard meter. This was agreed ad fitted and I've had nothing but hassle since. First they got the readings wrong on my heating control meter. Couldn't tell the difference between a 5 and a 6 dial meter. So after that I cancelled my direct debit and set up a standing order. I didn't want them changing the amount without my permission. Every 6 months I get a letter asking for me to put it up by another huge amount. Anyway that's the background.

 

Last year they asked me (right before a payment was due) to change my agreed payment from £45 per month to £61 per month. It takes at least 3 days to change a standing order with my bank and I really wanted to dispute this increase but was stressed so I made an additional payment of £16. Unfortunately due to illness I forgot until I got a letter after the next payment so I paid £32 to cover the next two shortfalls and changed the payment amount to £61 so I had actually paid £61 per month for the right number of months.

 

Then I got a letter dated 3 June saying that my estimated bill from 6 March to 31 May was £328. Followed a few days later (dated 7 June) by a red reminder "Payment overdue £33.90". I phoned them and was told that this was because my payments of £61 were made in different amounts (and it seems their computer can't add up). I told the adviser that I'd paid £61 a month and my S.O. was now £61. He agreed this was fine and I ended the call. I also checked my actual meter and put a reading in online. It said that my reading was not recognised but would be passed to the relevant team who would analyse it and get back to me.

 

I got two identical letters today. "Notice of Electricity Disconnection" Demanding £267.96. So I phoned them up and was told that I had to pay in full as my payment plan had ceased due to not paying £61 a month on the day due. Bear in mind I've spoken to them since this and been told no such thing. Bear in mind also that I'm waiting for confirmation of my meter reading. So he looked at his computer and decided that the meter reading meant that I actually owed £211 and could pay £91 a month (so my costs have trippled in 5 years?) for the next 6 months and then look again.

 

I'm sick of this. Mostly I've taken the path of least resistance and paid what they ask. The only resistance I've made is to do it on my terms but I still get confusing, contradictory and downright threatening letters. I'm not sure that they have the meter right. I worried that after they acknowledged the error before they would continue to read the wrong number of dials (I did the readin but there's a . in the one I put in first and their online system doesn't accept this. I remember this was significant in the discussion I had before with the member of staff who explained this to me and of course the reading I did had to be evaluated by them as their online system couldn't accept it.) and I have no way to prove this. I'm completely reliant on them.

 

I live in the Highlands and everyone uses Hydro. I know we're able in theory to switch but I've been told that Hydro will still supply but an intermediary will do the billing. Basically I don't trust them in the slightest. Today's threatogram (x2) has completely made me want out of this contract. What can I do?

[citizenB]

Are you able to find someone with a similar property to find out what kind of bills they are paying. £61.00 a month seems very high for a one bedroom flat !

[sequenci]

Hi there. Do consider a complain via the Energy Ombudsman; they are usually very good!

 

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy.html

[Fuzzgin]

Cheers. £61 is a lot. What's confusing is that the person I spoke to earlier calculated my annual useage and said that £54 a month sounds right. But I currently have to pay £91 a month to pay off this debt accrued while I was paying £61 a month. Now is it just me or does that make no sense at all? That only just occured to me.

[citizenB]

Are you taking readings of your own in order to make sure that they have them correct ?