We have been contacted by a few people concerning overcharging by Scottish Power. This article appeared in the Guardian in March this year, which shows that Scottish Power have even been chasing debts not even owed to them.
We should build a dossier of cases put together with a view to taking concerted action against Sottish Power. If you have been affected by this practice, please leave details in the comments section below, anonymously if you prefer.
Before finding this page I was wondering why nobody was concerned about Scottish Powers seemingly corrupt and likely fraudulent behaviour.
I moved house earlier this year and, unfortunately for me, inherited Scottish Power as my gas supplier.
There was a lit of confusion when I first moved as to who the supplier was. I received bills from Scottish Power but when I phoned them I would be told that they were not the supplier, that British gas was. I phoned British gas up who confirmed this and set up a direct debit for payments (£300 a month). . But bills kept coming from Scottish Power, then threats, then debt collectors peeping through my windows.
Eventually after numerous conversations, it was realised that British Gas just supplied the electricity and Scottish Power supplied the gas. My gas usage was calculated and a bill submitted which I paid. Over summer I never had the heating on and I was sent estimated bills which were the same as my actual bills from previous months. All seemed calm, then wham, out of the blue my bill for this month was £555.55 (as opposed to the usual £50-£70 month).
Eventually got to speak to somebody as its not easy. Without doubt the rudest customer services employee I have ever had the pleasure to speak to. She basically blamed me for not submitting readings over summer. When I told her the heating hadn’t been on at all for 5 months she basically insinuated I must have been lying.
I did have actual meter readings from June and then Sept and October. From this I was able to use calculate usage and costs. They were not even close to what I am being billed for. Do they acknowledge this? No. Do they show me how they came to their calculations? No. Apparently I’m not allowed to know that information.
My bills are clear as mud. With numerous cancelled bills. I genuinely believe they try to confuse as much as possible, then add bullying tactics to scare people into just paying.
This company seriously needs looking into. From what I have read in other people’s comments, they are surely acting unethically at the very least, but most likely illegally.
Worst energy company by far.
since 2019 i have been in dispute with scottish power i use basic electric ie a kettle a cooker once a day two computors and lights i went to the ombusman about it i got adviced to leave but when i tried scottish power upped the bill so i could not they now say i owe over 5000 pounds and even had a debt collector come to the door and they threatened to break the locks and put in a smart meter i didnt want a smart metre put in and now it turns out the barcode doesnt work or the number they gave me either i am at my wits end with this i even had to phone today to put money on the meter 50 pounds and the guy who i was speaking to told me i should top up a larger amount i told him i was on esa and did not have a lot of money to keep my electric going its going to cost me 100 pounds a fortnight out of my benefit which would leave me with basicaly not a lot to live on
Signed a tariff with SP Fixed Term rate price guaranteed until Dec 23 at £78 four months later they suddenly ‘upgraded’ my account and was expected to pay £368 a month. After switching to another provider, they are now asking for £1,638 as a final bill (this is for roughly three weeks supply of gas and electric)
I switched over to Scottish Power in August 2021 after 28 years of being debt free for Electricity as I used a key meter. On January 4th I had a smart meter installed which is showing a £108 debt. How can I have a debt when I buy electricity before I use it. Scottish Power are effectively, blatantly stealing from me. Where is the law to stop Scottish Power from stealing from its customers. Further more what can I do to stop them stealing from me. I have never been in debt for Electricity using pre pay before.
I’ve just referred my case to the energy ombudsman after almost one year of harassment. I won’t give you chapter and verse. Here’s the short version: bought a house where ScottishPower was incumbent supplier. Final demands addressed to the ‘owner/occupier’ were apparent. I set up a new account (big mistake, should have switched supplier) and received assurances I was not liable for preceding period. However, the ‘owner/occupier’ bills kept coming. More complaints, eventually the bills stop coming. Only then for a debt collector to contact me instead! And despite me providing ownership details, it took several months to bat them off. Meantime, another complaint to ScottishPower about the debt collector harassment and the impact on my credit score. Eventually they replied and stated I had nothing to worry about – but that I should pass the bills to the ‘landlord or letting agent’! (what part of homeowner/landlord do they not understand?). Flash forward a few month, a new debt collector contacts me – and the cycle continues. To be fair, they replied right away stating they would go back to our energy friends. Then when you think you have heard the last. Bang, almost 11 months to the day since it all began, ScottishPower send me the same final demand to ‘owner/occupier’ and the cycle begins all over again. Hence, complaint to the ombudsman. I will update the outcome.
I’ve had a smart metre fitted and the bills Scottish Power send me do not come anywhere close to what the usage metre says there nearly double
SCOTTISH POWER ARE SCAMMERS AND THEY NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED FOR FRAUD WITH INTIMIDATION !!!!
I was only present for 7 months and a half in my 1 person 1 bed flat and I was asked to pay £1194–> £1016 I already paid + £178 they were harassing me to pay, no matter how much I refused on the basis that their pricing was just not right and explained the situation they would just call me every day, sometimes twice a day, at 9pm too, when it had only been 2 weeks since the bill had been issued and would use legal jargon about debt collector coming around my house if I did not pay, or that my UK visa might be refused, they did not know my visa situation, the customer service just noticed I had a foreign accent; I looked it up and this is absolutely untrue and just plain intimidation, and xenophobic.
The above amount of £1194 for 7 months and a half equals to 159.25£ per month, and an enormous total of 1911£ per year for a 1 person living in a 1 bedroom flat; when the national average being 400-700£ PER YEAR for a one person one bed (according to all the websites I checked, such as https://usave.co.uk/energy/average-gas-and-electricity-bill-for-a-1-bed-house/ ; or https://slothmove.com/average-energy-bill-uk/ ). This is totally unacceptable and this is fraud with intimidation.
According to them, I now owe them an additional 178£, which I am refusing to pay, as there is no way I owe them this money and they instead owe me the money they stole from me.
On the phone, an operator even had the guts to say that throughout the vacated 4 months and half for which I was gone that it was the fridge or my “faulty appliances” (appliances which were turned off by the way, along with turned off light, boiler and heaters too) which used as much electricity than someone living there – imagine blaming the fridge for the ridiculous price they are charging!
They originally gave me no detailed bill for this 178£, and why I ‘apparently “owe” them this money, because they have no basis to charge me this, especially when I already paid an astronomical sum of £1016 for 7 months and half of consumption.
Truly shocked they have not been investigated yet.
Scottish power broke the fixed-rate 12-month contract we had, twice in the very same year! They then put us on a much dearer energy tariff, emptied our bank account, putting us in financial difficulty, all without notifying us at all. We only found out when they contacted only to notify us about the price rise, but we were on a fix-rate contract! When we called them, they said we are not the only one, it happened to others too. The customer service agents are so incompetent, so unprofessional and lying continuously. They hang up the phone when they don’t know what to do.
The last straw was, when they closed our account, only to open another and without repaying the money they owed us, as they are so incompetent to resolve this problem they caused without closing the account, again all without our knowledge. We spent 12 hours to resolve the issue to no avail. We are having a break down. They have no managers, so these incompetent, untrained, unmonitored and lying customer service agents are running wild, doing as they like, because they are not held accountable. The recorded calls are not listened even after we requested.
When we called back, small world, we caught the man who promised to refund the money they scammed from our bank account, but then did not honour it. It is unbelievable how he spoke to us once he got confronted. He said, he may call back if he can, or may be not, and that they can change the contracts as they please, he closed the account without repaying the overcharge but he can’t refund us now because he doesn’t know how to. He then started talking to himself, singing, whistling, whilst we were on the line, crying out of frustration. We wasted another hour and ten minutes on the phone and he still did not resolve my problem.
Please share your experience if you suffered the similar fate. That is, they put you in a fixed rate contract for a year, then cancel it a month after (11 months short), putting you on a strand rate which is three times more expensive and empty your account all without giving any notification. As they said, this happened to others, so we are not the only one. Whilst you are asleep, they will cancel your economy fix contract to dearer monthly pay, you wont even know, by the time you notice, they would have emptied your bank account, and you will NOT be refunded. They manipulate accounts, bills, live on the phone, no way to proof that you are scammed.
They respond to my bad review on Trust Pilot in an hour, but then they never respond in full nor they offer any resolution. So their response is a sham giving readers false impression of them. They have been investigated and fined by Ofgem in 2016 for inaccurately billing customers. Stealing money is fraud and they need to be investigated, again.
Scottish power have been putting my bill up constantly for nearly three years now. They now claim I use £165 gas and electric a month and have arrears of £1100. I live alone and work in aviation so am away a lot of the time. Previous to loving here and using Scottish power I have had monthly bills £80-90 and always been in credit. Even though this is the first property where there has been a smart meter I simply cannot use £165 of energy per month considering I’m barely here. The £1100 arrears seem to have magically appeared and the only answer I get from Scottish power is “that’s what the meter readings say and your payments haven’t hatched your usage”
I have tried to get the to look at the smart meter and investigate further providing all the readings etc. But they aren’t interested and it’s now at the point they are threatening default action of I don’t lay this extortionate amount. Any advise would be helpful thank you.
hi i got my first flat in december just me and my little girl, the starting price was £81 which i was fine with paying and then it was raised to over £100 which made no sense as i only stated there once or twice a week and my meter readings showed i wasn’t using more than £15 gas and electric. i complained about this and refunded me and then continued to take over £100 out my account every month and refused to refund me. so i had been charged over £300 what i actually owed them and so i decided to leave and now they are trying to get another £170 of me for my final bill and keep threatening me with debt collectors.
I moved into my 1 bed house that only uses electricity in february of 2020 and some how my bills managed to nearly double in that time considering i am away from home a lot more due to my change of job.
I started at roughly around £85, still a high price to be paying.
Every few months i have recieved letters saying i am in debt so my monthly direct debit will be going up. It is currently sitting at £144, an extortionate amount. I have a friend in a 2 bed using a jacuzzi etc during the summer that is only paying £45 a month.
I have ignored it until now due to life being so busy.
I decided to get on the phone to them and they explained why, in my opinion they are one big scam.
They explained that they are only taking estimations and not actual readings, in fact they have never once taken an actual reading. So now they are sending someone round to do so.
Once they get the reading they will worm out what i am using and apparently refund me for the previous months. As i have pretty much been promised this i will hold on to hope, if they decide to long the process out i’ll be on there case a little more.
Hopefully my experience can help, get on the phone and ask them to take a real reading, not an estimation.
I moved out of a pay as you go metered property in 2017 and closed my account with Scottish power at that time. I am still receiving harassing texts saying I owe 250 quid which isn’t even possible as the account was PAYG, if there was no cash in the meter it cut off the gas and electricity supply automatically after a time. Scottish power actually owe me about 50 quid from when I moved into the property, we accidentally cancelled off some old debt that was sitting on the meter when we moved in. They were meant to send a voucher card but never did. Now also getting harassing texts from two separate debt collectors, LCS and pcds. Have blocked their numbers and ignore the messages but it’s quite stressful receiving them constantly.
Scottish Power charged me over double what I agreed to pay. They said this was because of meter readings, and the price in the contract was based on estimated readings. They had never taken any readings which I stated to them. They insisted they had. As they had not been invited to do so I asked them when they had trespassed on my property to obtain these readings. They fell silent. They also billed me for when the property was empty, saying the meter readings show I was living there.
The property is a new build, it is undisputable the property was empty. Unless you’re suggesting they let me move in before the sale completed, or the builders were secretly living there. They stopped me switching to another company, and they now make harassing phone calls, and send harassing texts multiple times a day. A long with sending demand letters.
I am nearly 80 years old. Scottish Power have driven me to the verge of suicide. They are systematically robbing me of my meagre pension. My prepayment meter needs nonstop feeding with money I haven’t got. I spent 24 hours without switching anything electric on – but the meter was £2 lighter the next morning.
I live in a 1 bedroom 4 in a block house.
I am entering meter readings every month. i am paying bills of £200 per month for electricity only.
I do not have T.V.
I do not use my heating as cannot afford to run it.
I do not use my cooker for the same reason.
My heating system is the wet electric system and my meter is the Horstman k radio temetry meter.
The council was supposed to change my heating to air source heating… but Covid has put that on hold.
Scottish power had already managed to rip me off for £5000 on two previous years by re calculating my account. This is why i now read my meter and input the readings every month.
I am on the standard tariff.
I cannot leave until i get a different meter, which will be when i get the heating changed as other companies do not deal with this type of meter.
I can’t believe that they are charging me so much. it is insane.
Hi i live in a 4 roomed flat all electric I work during the day so not much is being used, ive been with ScottishPower for years on a direct debit system, at first the bills were ok then I went on the so called cheap rate direct debit system OMG that was the biggest mistake I have ever made, my bills rocketed I was left in perpetual debit, I kept ringing them and saying how can this be this high am I paying for the whole street, I live in a 4 roomed flat, I was fobbed off with their estimations and excuses, all this come to ahead this year as ScottishPower sent me my wonderful estimate for this year, on their estimate I would have to pay 220 a month I went absolutely ballistic, I still owed them 505 from my winter bill, I was beside myself with the stress that this company puts you under, fortunately I had enough of a rainy day fund to pay that bill and be debt free from them, I cancelled my direct debit with this company and I now submit meter readings every month, how the bloody hell can they go from wanting to charge me over two hundred pounds a month down to 56 a month, I submitted my readings on time like I am now so how is this possible, I want that company dragged over hot coals it’s legalised theft and something has to be done, there must be a regulatory committee or ombudsmen out there that bring these companies to task, you can get your money back from PPI why can’t we claim back our money from this company for ripping off hundreds of people, one last thing I want to say to people is DON’T SIGN UP FOR A DIRECT DEBIT SYSTEM to pay your electric it’s a rip off.
I am now into my 11th year of battle with Scottish power.
In approximately 2010 my husband and I got behind with our quarterly bill (250 average per quarter) our debt got further behind till eventually we were sent a warning that they were applying for a warrant to install prepayment meters for our gas and electric. We called off the action to avoid cost and allowed the meters to go in.
Just a few weeks later bills came through the door from SP.Suddenly they decided we owed them 9k NOT 500. ..thinking it was a simple error we called and our 10 year nightmare began.
No matter what we said or did they insisted we owed the money.Our complaints fell on death ears and eventually we gave up as it became depressing and stressful.
The 9k debt was sat on our meters and of course they helped themselves to repayments each time we loaded onto the meter.
With renewed determination a few years ago we took our case to the ombudsman. I requested all the information SP held on us,especially the paperwork for when they took us to court,showing they were seeking just 500 pounds.
They didnt provide this claiming they didn’t have it,they supplied bills that only went back the life of the pre payment meters,again stating thats all they had.We lost they won,again we felt cheated.We resigned ourselves to the fact we must forever pay for SP’s mistake.
In November 2017 we randomly received a letter from SP saying they were removing 3000 pound from our debt,it gave us no Joy as we still had about 5000 of debt left that we never owed.
Very recently a problem with my meter left me no choice but to deal with SP customer services.I vented a little about my history with them and the lady on the phone was unusually helpful.
To my horror she had a bill she could access..one of the last we had on normal cycle which stated we owed just 2000 pounds in 2011…(the court paper work back then only said 500)
So where was this bill when I did my SAR a few years ago? Had I had that my ombudsman case could have been very different.
They are now investigating but I have zero trust in them
I believe we have paid by my calculations 3000 pounds towards the debt via our meters over the last 10 years.They removed 3000 pounds themselves in 2017. To date they say there is 3000 pounds outstanding…they now admit they have a bill from 2011 saying we owed 2000.The same year our pre paid meters went in.
I have emailed the CEO just yesterday and also my MP.
This has to end
We are 2 adults and 1 child in our 2 bedroom house and paying monthly bill of £40.00. From Sep 2020 ww are getting a bill of 160+. We spoke to scottish power CC and they did nothing about it. In Jan 2021 they charged ne £505.00, in Feb 2021 they send me another bill of 300+. Tried to sort it out with scottish power customer care but in vain. No support from them and all they ask is “can you pay some amount today”. Then I am receiving threatening mails and posts from them. Frustrated… very disappointing company and people.
Very similar situation after being told I would be given a fixed monthly rate of x amount monthly no matter what usage. Then I got hit with a 150 bill then a 160 then a 189 now they wsnt to charge me 220..
Scottish Power are utterly deplorable, a law unto themselves of no comprehension to clear proven facts. They act not just outside of their own company charter but fail to comply with affiliated regulatory bodies and blatantly give two fingers up to not just its customers but the Obudsman / Ofgem. What and where it gets worse is the impact on customers mental health and financial imposition at their hands.
Scottish Power sent me an email in January asking for my meter readings and after entering them online my balance changed to -£1,300! I called them immediately to tell them something must be wrong (I have 7 years of data to prove it) and they said it’s because I had a smart meter installed in November 2020. I hadn’t… I’ve had the same smart meter since August 2017. Found out that they’re billing me for the wrong gas meter, and they still haven’t sorted it out. I’ve even submitted a complaint through their website, but they haven’t contacted me. I usually use £465 a year on gas – they’re charging me that per month at the moment! So I’ve turned off the heating and I’m cooking using electricity. It’ll be interesting to see what I get charged on the next bill.
My mother is partially sighted and elderly. She keeps getting threatening letters and bailiffs letter’s. She has no working gas appliances. She has no central heating. They said she doesn’t owe the money, but letter after letters keep coming. It’s time for the government to shut them down. There is no way she could have used that amount of gas. The ombudsman did nothing.
have had issues too they are trying to get 207 pounds off me when it first started i went from 20 a week to 80 on the meter after several missed appointments because they siad meter was faulty put me on a new meter not a pay as you go it escalated went through the rigmarol of contacting ombusman and they gave me a number tpo log in that did not work so they closed my case i am in a two bed bungalow using basic electrics had a meter reader rouind took readin when i explained to him what was happening he responded yeah thats not right maybe if you had a cannabis farm which i dont but yeah they need shut down and how its still called scottish power when a man in spain owns it is beyond me
I pay as I go for my gas and electric and I was with Scottish Power for 3 weeks and they sent me a bill of £57 which I oh I did put a complaint which they sent me a cheque for £20 they are disgusting people Scottish power and stay well clear of them it’s because I’ve switched companies now they don’t like it and I wasn’t in debt with them because it was pay-as-you-go it looks like they got a bad reputation Scottish Power and they are so rude on the phone they rang me up today and told me I owe them £57 but I don’t know where they get that amount from because I pay as I go I put the phone down on him in the end
Who independently of SP tests the calibration of an installed “Smart meter”? And who attends to test a meter and INDEPENDENTLY verify whether it is set up correctly? And what exactly are the “tolerances” in measurement?
These Weights & Measure questions used to addressed by Local Authority Trading Standards, but sadly no more. All seems to rest with Ofgen.
Where is the local Ofgen Engineer based? Does anybody know of such a person? I can’t find one… So have asked our MSP, Liam McArthur, “How is the public interest protected?”
And, yes, our bills from SP are x3 what they were after a first quarter connected to their Smart meter. A small Croft in Orkney, oil fired for heating and hot water… gas mostly for cooking, otherwise a couple of towel rails and an occasional fan heater… electric light. SP response has been lack lustre! No answers to my questions other than the offer to “run one of their (not independent) meters in parallel… to see it there is a difference”.
That is not an independent test by an independent engineer with the ability to test meter calibration!
How does one know that the SP proposed “parallel meter” does not have the same inherent technological fault?
“There you go Mr B the meters read the same!”
Clearly the mounting evidence and lack of systematic engagement means that the only recourse is to our law makers – MP and or SMP. No amount of badgering SP will change the appalling lack of regulatory oversight. Only Parliament has the power to change; the power to bring public interest regulation back under local authority control!
I was initially charged £1400 2 and a half years ago for around 4 weeks power before I moved house. They agreed there was an error but I couldn’t get them to come abd check the meter before my actual move date.
Since then I have had several demands for payment and no response to the 3 complaints I raised other than to tell me they have closed the complaint.
Around 8 months ago they sent me another bill for £700 despite me paying them monthly based on my own readings.
I contacted the Ombudsmen at which point they threatened me with debt collectors then sold the alleged debt to a debt collection company.
SP are absolute crooks and I am astounded they are left to operate in this way. Why is nobody intervening?
For over three years Scottish power billed me for gas, I had no meter, no gas appliances and No gas supply! I was not a customer of Scottish Power at all. I even had a hand delivered letter from a debt collection agency. Again, they did not supply me with any goods or service, I had no gas supply, the impact on my mental health was huge.
I only really started to notice the way Scottish power operate when I got the Scottish power app .
As my usage and the bills they charged for
Was never the same amount they even charged me over £200 for a months gas
We only have a combi boiler that uses. The gas to fire up all else is electric ?
I’ve just sat here and calculated the usage
On the app and then the bills generated
By Scottish power . I have over paid on gas
£270.09 and on the electric I have overpaid £198.06 yet I am still in debit with this company ? And you can’t leave them with a debt as they stop it
Well I’m prepay and the charge me 152 pounds and I have no idea where that from and they can’t explain to me I called them many times and the guy said it’s to difficulty to explain I said send to me by letter and they say will take 3 weeks . And the still take money from my Metter in less the a month I already top up 40 pounds but I leave home at 6 and get back at 9 I don’t cook at home just have a shower and bed and they keep charging me ! Last year the costumer service guy called me stupid
You are so right about Scottish Power, this corrupt organisation making thousands of pounds with their faulty smart meters.
I also battling with a complaint about overcharging, a fault was dected on my Smart meter in 2018, and they did nothing and my bills were almost £2000 a year and I live on my own in a bungalow.
And don’t even try the Ombudsman they are a waste of time and side with the energy companies.
I just appealed their decision.
Why is the energy minister not involved to sort this out?? It has gone to long, no how much you fine them they are still allowed to rip the consumer off.
i am in a 2 bed bugalow it started with a faulty meter which was running at between 60 pounds to 80 pounda a week after 8 failed appointments and a spate of their customer operators deciding to end my complaint thay then denied some of the failed appointments i only use basic electric ie kettle lights 3 computors and cooker now and agin furthermore i tried to change my supplier there response was to up the bill so i could not leave now they are trying to charge 2 thousand 750 pounds and threatening me with a court order to put in another pay as you go meter to force me to pay for an overcharged electric bill i am on esa and as far as i am concerned being trapped by scottish power into a service i wanted out of in the first place
I moved into a new apartment in September 2019, paying a monthly rate of £49 (for one occupant). In April they wrote to me and told me my DD wasn’t covering my usage and would be doubled to £99 per month. In addition to this there is also a £400 debit accruing on my account. I have been trying since April to sort the situation out but have been told no one will come and install a smart meter or check the current meter is working, nor will they explain why on earth the price has suddenly doubled, or where the £400 debit came from. Utterly appalling customer service – worst company I’ve ever dealt with.
I moved into a private rental property in October 2017 with my boyfriend and in November 2017, I asked Scottish Power to install a pre-payment meter with permission of the owner.
When the engineer came he said it could not be fitted as there was an issue with the meter, ie; the economy 7 meter was running alongside the standard rate meter 24/7 instead of kicking in during the night only, apparently there was no timer and they said they would arrange for one to be fitted but all they did was to send numerous engineers to fit a prepaymenf meter, this went on for most of 2018 .
In july 2018 I received an excessively high electric bill which I questioned with SP ,they told me not to pay anything until the meter issues were rectified ,
They booked engineers to carry out the work numerous times and each time I took time off work but each time SP cancelled , this happened 13 times and was told I would receive £30 compensation for each cancelled appointment which I still have not received.
SP eventually rectified the timer issue and said for them to fit a pre-payment meter they would need to replace the meter first with a like for like meter and then install a pre-payment meter but they do not make my particular meter anymore and they have to find one and will phone me when they have found one.
I am still waiting for this but in the meantime
my latest bill isfor over £4000 .
My case has been passed to complaints who have said they are still trying to resolve the problem .
SP has told us that once the meter issues are resolved we need to do a consumption test and then adjust the bill accordingly which should mean the total bill will be reduced significantly.
The property is a 2 bedroomed flat and only me and my partner live here with his young daughter staying at the weekend .
We both work so no electricity is being used during the day .
The hot water tank is only switched on 3 /4 times a week for an hour each time .
We shower and do not use the bath.
We use the microwave most days as it is faster than the main oven, so we do not use an awful lot of electricity.
We have just applied to our local housing association for a home of our own so we need these issues rectified as soon as possible .
Obviously once things are rectified we will make arrangements to pay what we genuinely owe with a payment plan.
I have been staying with my daughter off and on for the last few years and my property has only been lived in spasmodically running the heating on frost setting to ensure no burst pipes. I have been paying my Bill’s by direct debit. I sent in a metre reading expecting to be well in credit! This was May 2020
I checked my account and it read £5470 in debit!
I rang SP immediately and complained about the bill. I was assured it was a computer glitch they were aware of and it would be rectified straight away.
I left them for 2 weeks and checked again expecting to see a credit balance. No it was still showing a debit but a little less as a payment had been taken.
I rang again and sent an email and made comments on FB. I was rang by someone from the company assured me they were checking the account and could I send another metre reading this I did but it was 2 months as Leicester was in lockdown! The property is in Staffordshire.
I arranged for the metres to be read again and sent them off again. Each time backing up my metre reading with photos of the metres.
They explained they thought the metre had completed several cycles and reset.
They also said I’d missed a digit off the reading.
I pointed out that I’d backed up my reading with a photo of the metre and there was only 4 numbers on the metre.
They asked for a third metre reading each time it had only used about 10 units in a month.
Today I received another phone call reassuring me they were dealing with my complaint.
Whilst I was talking to a woman I was having trouble understanding, I could see I was having another incoming phonecall from Scottish Power. I told them I’ve had enough I going to spread the word about how crap they are.
I’m getting touch with the press and putting it out there how bad they are at dealing with complaints. I’ve been told it’s only been a complaint since July!
I pointed out I hadn’t rung and emailed them in May to congratulate them on.my £5470+ bill.
They are a shambles they keep trying to get me to have a smart metre!
They dont listen or take action.
They are dragging it out hoping I’ll go away. No chance what so ever of that happening!!
They must owe me thousands!
Was promised Dual Fuel rates. Took them 5 months to join my accounts from date of moving both over. All the time charged standard tariff rates. There were excuses every time I phoned and waited an age to speak to someone. A number of times I was cut off, or promised someone would ring me back (they never did).
I moved my gas and electricity over in Oct2019, in January 2020 they still hadn’t been ‘linked’ so I was still paying basic rate fuel during some of the coldest months of the year.
After threatening to contact the ombudsman and asking for records of our communication I was finally listened to, but told the request had been made to join my accounts, but it would take another 4-6weeks to happen.
During this time, the sales rep (call centre helper!) tried to sign me up to a new deal, locking me in for 2 years.
I told them I just wanted the deal I was sold and to be charged the rates I was quoted.
Eventually in Feb 2020 (5months after asking moving my gas over to take advantage of the dual fuel offer), my accounts were joined.
I still hadn’t received any refund for the huge bills I’d had to pay.
Shortly after in March, the country was locked down. I lost my work, but then received a new huge bill from SP. I was still waiting for the last 5 months to be recalculated and refunded.
I had to pay, despite losing work and having no income. They made threats of sending around debt collectors (as if this wasn’t a stressful enough time already).
They eventually recalcated my bill and ascertained that I’d only overpaid by £40! It’s ridiculous!!! I can’t work out their bills and the information online was incorrect.
On deciding to just pay them off so I could leave asap I tried several times to move to a different provider. They blocked the move and cancelled the request with the new suppliers.
Thankfully, 3rd time lucky it went through and I finally escaped!!!!
I was offered £25 compensation, which I accepted and received an email to confirm my account had been closed.
1 month later I receive a new bill from SP (I am now with British Gas) asking me for money!!! I have ignored them ever since and when will be going through the events in more detail and contacting the ombudsman.
Put simply, this company is corrupt. I believe these delay tactics are deliberate in order to ramp up people’s bills.
During this time I actually joined a support group for SP customers!!! A few exist! The awful situations they have put people in. It’s just appalling!!!
This company needs shutting down and investigating. They’re crooks! Plain and simple.
So in January 2017 I was £980 in credit, 3 months later I was £4000 in debt to SP. Raised complaint with them and over a 4 month period they knocked it down to £1600. Fair enough as unbeknown to me they had not taken a DD for almost a year.
I changed tariff in August 2018 and they then decided to add what seems to be what they “lost” on the previous account. Phoned up the usual number and asked them why my new account had gone from £2144 to £4948 in one day. The SP person had no idea and said they would call back with the details. Naively I believed and never received a call. Attempted to resolve the problem via SP’s chat options for, wait for it, 18 months, and got nowhere.
Up until the beginning of 2020 I had paid “goodwill” payments to them while the rest of it sits in a bank account.
The current debt is sitting at just short of £7K.
In the 2 years I have been dealing with the current complaint I have never received a single phonecall from them, a single letter or email from them. At no point have they said you owe us money, where is it.
Last Friday they were supposed to call having set it up through their Facebook messenger chat. They never called. Same call set for this Friday. Part of me is at a loss as to how you can run a business like this but then I guess we all know better.
John Sharpe
07:08 (1 minute ago)
to contactus, consumeraffairs
I was until november 2019 a customer of scottish power by default for 5yrs in a rented flat. I had both a prepayment meter for gas and one for electricity.
Both meter cards were supplied to me by owner of the flat when i moved in and as such I never opened new energy accounts, all correspondence to the flat was always addressed to the owner occupier and since the meters suited me I never looked at getting them replaced, happy in the fact that i would never receive a bill.
When I moved out the flat both meters were still in credit and my landlord suggested I contact scottish power to advise i was moving out.
They hadnt heard of me before and took my details so that they could send out an end of tenancy letter to my new address, I had had several meter readings throughout the 5 years i was there and on any occasion i had drifted into my emergency credit, when i topped up again, they took the debt from the credit.
I have just had my credit file drop by 66 points duo to two negative accounts from scottish power appearing on it, totalling almost £400. They have instructed a debt collection agency to pursue me for this money also.
Scottish power have been hell to deal with , i have been stuck with them for over 3 years, my DD for gas and electric started off at £69 a month, after my first month i was constantly getting emails/ post to say they were putting my DD amount up
Not only did they take the agreed amount and more they also randomly took large amounts on other dates as and when they liked
My bank advised me to block the DD after the 3rd chargeback, and pay standing order only
Apparently they are well known for doing this
My account was constantly in debit by around £900 despite me paying £130 a month throughout the year, my montly useage from about feb onwards is less than £40 a month
The smart meter i had fitted wasnt sending readings so all readings were estimates but i had no idea as they never told me till i was leaving
Ive had 3 years of constant harrassment via phone, text, email, letter
They have passed me onto debt collectors while my account was on hold due to being investigated as the amounts they said i owed just didnt add up
They have made me ill with stress, ive haf to borrow over £1000 to pay them off and move companys
Since then ive had 5 different final bills with different amounts and they are no help at all when ive complained . Falls on deaf ears
I’ve had years of Hell with Scottish Power. Moved into a new build property, started off fine, then suddenly they wanted to up my bill, they wanted £290 a month, that was from £87. I disputed this very large increase, as they were telling me it was estimate, they charged me £1000 saying my meter hadn’t been read for a year (which was rubbish) when I told them it had been they suddenly knocked £500 off the amount. At this point on receiving letters, I noticed they didnt have my correct meter number, they sent me a letter asking for the correct one. I send them it (I shouldnt have) Anyway long story short, I set up direct debit after direct debit, and every month nothing came off, I called them and everytime they assured me it was now set up (it wasnt) Next thing although I was in dispute with them I get guy at my door saying he’s here to fit an electricity prepayment meter, although telling him I had not asked for one, he said he had to fit it and could gain access to my house regardless. Phonecall after phonecall, someone would call me bk, not one phonecall did I get bk from them.
I come home and theyve then fitted prepayment gas meter without any letters etc. And sent a bill for £3000 for gas. I cant get it removed now, cant move companies, im paying through the roof for gas and sit with no gas more often than not. £35 I put in a day to get £16 worth of gas. I was having to put £60/70 a week in it, to get not even half of that sometimes. Although they cant call you bk there quick enough to send letters with price increases. Theyve not only caused me years of worry, stress and upset, it has also affected my mental health and made me consider giving up my home. I dont know how they keep getting away with doing this to people. The prepayment meters should be banned, I struggle to keep gas and electricity in them and I work, so God knows how low income families or families who don’t work manage. It’s actually putting them into even more poverty. And when people have to make a choice between eating or heating, then somethings got to change surely.
I am also in dispute over the overcharge on my bills , after trying to get a full statement of account which they have a duty to provide in law yet I am still waiting I did receive copies of my bills though I would challenge anyone to decipher them.They have refused to accept my complaint on financial the disparity on my account as they said I have complained before . The figures they have on any of the balances don’t add up (re bills readings or usage) .
I paid my final bill for my property which was sold in March. Since then they keep sending me a bill every month for the same amount even though I paid it off in full in March. I have contacted them by phone and have written to them several times but they have completely ignored me. I put in a formal complaint to them nine weeks ago and this hasn’t even been acknowledged. Scottish Power have now instructed a debt collector to harass me. I have sent proof to both Scottish Power and the debt collectors that this bill has been paid, but they are still pursuing me.
It happened to me. Overcharged well over £1000 by SP due to their assumed consumption levels, even when I was away abroad for months at a time. Spent years trying to get it refunded, while it continued to increase and their invoices and fancy web pages, charts and terminology made their figures impossible to understand and argue against. Add to that the waiting times on the phone… 😡
Scottish Power has overcharged me on several occasions, changed my meter readings without any expansion. And they keep on blocking my transfer to another company.
10 years of hell with Scottish Power following being in credit substantially and of ignoring requests for a refund I canceled the direct debit and didn’t make payments to recover the overpayment. From then onwards we have been overcharged, requested review, made complaints time and time over. They call and promise resolve in a time period and nothing. We have everything on record to nothing adding up of each and every bill, communications sent and response. Our bill jumped up £1800 in one month and they ignore you despite the meter readings, Three bills in one month. Then this year our bills have gone through the roof to £1000 for a quarter. Year on year our consumption is stable unlike their billing. We are so say £3600 in debit = We can’t all be wrong ! So how do we end this and bring Scottish Power to accountable of wrongful billing, failing to resolve and causing undue stress on customers, let alone the financial impacts and effect to individuals credit scores