Electricity Overcharging
Posted: May 4th, 2024, 8:14 pm
My late father arranged a business electricity contract with Scottish Power in March 2023.
The business is a farm & my elderly parents had been using about 3.5 kW h per day in recent years. So less than the typical domestic user.
The letter from Scottish Power on 4 March 2023 confirms a tariff with a standing charge of 66.24p. Variable tariff.
All of the bills received from 1 April to his death in December 2023 have a standing charge of 192.9p. So this is almost 3 times the agreed figure.
After his death, bills addressed to "The Occupier" have a daily standing charge of around the 66 p mark.
I gather he phoned them several times about this and was told to read the small print. My sister also encountered unprofessional service from their call centre.
1 Would it be in any way reasonable to have contract terms which allow Scottish Power to treble the standing charge (approximately), without even informing the customer in advance of the bill ?
2 Would any any board members on business tariffs like to share details of standing charges applied in 2023 ? Was a trebling of the standing charge in April 2023 normal ?
3 I have raised a formal complaint against Scottish Power. The first reply is BS. He is even telling me to read the t&c attached, yet he has attached a bill from another customer, not T&C. Their actual T&C don't seem to include anything about variable pricing.
Do I have to wait the 8 weeks for my complaint to fester with these people, before taking the matter to the Ombudsman ?
Should I consider other avenues, such as the small claims court ?
The business is a farm & my elderly parents had been using about 3.5 kW h per day in recent years. So less than the typical domestic user.
The letter from Scottish Power on 4 March 2023 confirms a tariff with a standing charge of 66.24p. Variable tariff.
All of the bills received from 1 April to his death in December 2023 have a standing charge of 192.9p. So this is almost 3 times the agreed figure.
After his death, bills addressed to "The Occupier" have a daily standing charge of around the 66 p mark.
I gather he phoned them several times about this and was told to read the small print. My sister also encountered unprofessional service from their call centre.
1 Would it be in any way reasonable to have contract terms which allow Scottish Power to treble the standing charge (approximately), without even informing the customer in advance of the bill ?
2 Would any any board members on business tariffs like to share details of standing charges applied in 2023 ? Was a trebling of the standing charge in April 2023 normal ?
3 I have raised a formal complaint against Scottish Power. The first reply is BS. He is even telling me to read the t&c attached, yet he has attached a bill from another customer, not T&C. Their actual T&C don't seem to include anything about variable pricing.
Do I have to wait the 8 weeks for my complaint to fester with these people, before taking the matter to the Ombudsman ?
Should I consider other avenues, such as the small claims court ?