Couple pays neighbour's electricity bill for two years in ScottishPower meter mix-up

9 December 2019, 13:16 | Updated: 9 December 2019, 15:37

Alison Hill claims she's found four accounts in her name since moving into her terraced house in December 2017.

A frustrated mother has lashed out at ScottishPower after claiming she's been paying her neighbour's electricity bill for two years.

Alison Hill moved into a new home in December 2017 but allegedly found she was incurring extra charges after the energy giant mixed up her meter readings.

After investigating the curious costs, she told newspapers she discovered four accounts registered in her name, with one even marked "deceased".

The 25-year-old and her boyfriend Michael Leese, 27, have since complained to the Ombudsman in an attempt to resolve the payment issue.

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She reportedly told the Daily Record: "I’m astounded at the ineptitude. It’s surely not that difficult to bill someone for the electricity they are using.

"I’ve spent hours on the phone, provided the correct meter number countless times and sent photos of the meter in situ. But it’s still not sorted."

She and her personal trainer partner relocated to the £145,500 three-bed terraced house two years ago and were told they would receive the relevant paperwork from the Glasgow-based business imminently.

Alison explained: “The builder had provided final meter readings and the entire development was taken on by ScottishPower."

But the welcome pack they were expecting never arrived.

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She continued: “I called to complain and was told it was on its way. I’ve yet to see it.”

In May 2018, the professional banker got in touch with the energy company once more when she began worrying about the rising costs.

Alison said: “I was unaware that the meter registered to the account was the wrong one and I was paying for someone else’s supply. But I’d set up the app on my phone and could see the bill increasing.

“All I wanted to do was pay by direct debit. The penny dropped when an adviser at ScottishPower read out the meter number. It was one digit out.

“Michael arrived home one night and found a letter addressed to the executors of the estate of Alison Hill. A trawl through the app showed four accounts registered against a random address two streets away.”

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The Ombudsman got involved in the mix-up and asked the energy giant to re-bill the couple from 1st December 2017, as well as issue an apology and pay compensation.

But Alison said: “ScottishPower told the Ombudsman it had done this in February but the meter issue is still not resolved.

“I got so fed up that I tried to change supplier. But I couldn’t as the meter number is wrong. Please help.”

ScottishPower have since said sorry for the inconvenience and have vowed to get the issue sorted.

A spokesman for company said: “We apologise for the problems. The billing side has now been updated internally.

“We experienced problems when updating the meter details on the national database.

"We will update Ms Hill and the Ombudsman. We will implement any further actions we receive from the Ombudsman.”