Woman 'harassed' by power firm over false debt

A woman has described her "living hell" as she was pursued over mistaken bills by Scottish Power.

Irene Girvan, from Glasgow, claimed the energy giant hounded her over money she insists she did not owe.

The 64-year-old told BBC Scotland she was threatened with debt collectors and missed a Covid booster jab waiting for enforcement officers she believed were coming to change her locks.

Scottish Power has apologised for distress caused and cleared the debt.

The firm said the errors arose from a lack of actual meter readings but accepted it had failed to follow the correct procedures in trying to remedy the dispute.

Mrs Girvan has been trying to resolve her dispute with the power company for a year.

She said she had been sent bills for differing amounts of money, from £1,000 to £2,224 and then an extra £500.

"I have been harassed constantly," she said. " I have been up against them because they say I owe a tremendous sum of money which I don't - and I can prove that I don't.

"I have been in a terrible state, just crying a lot because it is still not resolved and I know I am not being listened to."

Mrs Girvan said that she had been passed from one department to another.

"They were going to send debt collectors. They threatened to take me to court. I thought, good - that way I might be able to prove it, and a judge could see for themselves I don't owe this money."

Mrs Girvan said the Energy Ombudsman ordered Scottish Power to apologise but the firm continued to chase differing amounts of money.

She said there was "not a day since last year" when she hadn't received letters and phone calls looking for payment.

At one point, she said she missed a Covid booster vaccination because she was worried debt collectors would arrive at her home.

"I cancelled it because they could have come at any point. I was anticipating them breaking in, changing the locks, changing the meter. "

Scottish Power told the BBC they would apologise and remedy the situation.

A spokeswoman said: "We're very sorry for the poor customer service provided and the distress caused to Ms Girvan regarding her energy accounts, which stemmed from the lack of actual meter readings over a number of years.

"There is no excuse for our failures to correctly resolve these billing issues when they were raised and implement the remedy set out by the Energy Ombudsman in full.

"We've since reviewed the accounts again and transferred the resulting credit from the gas account to Ms Girvan's electricity account, leaving an outstanding balance of around £900."

She added: "In recognition of the substandard service provided and how seriously we take this, we will write off this balance, leaving Ms Girvan's accounts clear with absolutely no monies owed. We hope this brings matters to a satisfactory close and apologise again to Ms Girvan for not getting things right first time round."

In another case in Edinburgh, Lizzy Wilson - who has never been a customer of Scottish Power - is being pursued for a debt of more than £1,000.

The 63-year-old moved into her one-bedroom flat in March 2020, just before lockdown.

She switched her power supplier from Eon to Octopus within a couple of weeks, but a few months later began to get bills from Scottish Power addressed to the "owner/occupier".

Ms Wilson said: "I contacted them and went through a few months of frustrating phone calls with different advisers who took increasing amounts of personal information. From not being a Scottish Power customer and not having an account, I ended up getting a bill in my name and my address."

She thought she had finally resolved the issue in March this year but then started to get letters with increasingly large bills.

The company is currently trying to get just over £1,000 from her for the electricity supply.

"I have never, ever in my life been a Scottish Power customer in any address that I have lived in," she said.

"I contacted my supplier Octopus who have confirmed they supplied me. I refuse to speak to Scottish Power now and insist on having everything written in email so I have proof of what is going on.

"I ended up getting a letter from a debt collection agency, saying they would come and change my meter to a pre-paid meter."

Ms Wilson said she went back to Scottish Power to ask them to stop.

She said: "I've been upset, felt angry, had sleepless nights. Each time I get an electronic bill with increasing amounts of money I reply through Scottish Power's complaints system and, yes, I cry sometimes.

"I am in despair and feel like I am talking another language."

Scottish Power said it had stopped any further bills to Ms Wilson while it investigates the issue.

"Ms Wilson's property is currently registered to Scottish Power on the national meter database, which is why bills have been correctly issued to the owner-occupier of that property," a spokeswoman said.

"We suspect there is another incorrect entry for the same address from another supplier on the database and that's what we're looking into. In the meantime, we have put a stop on any further bills being issued and we apologise for any inconvenience caused."

In 2016, the firm was fined £18m by the regulator Ofgem over poorly-handled customer complaints.