Scottish Power customer shocked as energy bills soars £140 per month due to smart meter | Personal Finance | Finance
Margaret Ross told one of the show’s presenters, Gloria Hunniford, how she was really angry to find her energy bill more than double after having a smart meter installed. She is one of a number of Scottish Power customers who have complained to the programme about faulty smart meters.
Ms Ross, from Glasgow, appeared on Rip Off Britain yesterday following her energy bill shooting up £140 a month after having a smart meter installed.
After unsuccessfully complaining to Scottish Power, she stopped her direct debit and set up a standing order for £100 a month instead.
This resulted in Scottish Power placing her on a higher tariff because the company said she no longer qualified for the lower rate.
The Ombudsman has since ruled in her favour yet Margaret is still waiting for a new smart meter and for the matter to be resolved.
READ MORE: Santander offers ‘top rate’ savings rates of 2.5% plus cashback
Despite the Ombudsman’s ruling, Margaret is still waiting for the smart meter to be swapped and her bill still stands at over £2,000.
Margaret told viewers how she felt let down by Scottish Power.
She said: “My family and me – we don’t matter.
“It’s all just business to them.”
Alex Belsham-Harris from Citizen’s Advice said there are some things people can do if they are worried their smart meters aren’t working properly.
“If you turn off all of the appliances in your house and see if the meter is still running, then that could be a sign there’s something wrong with the meter.
“And then if you turn the appliances off one by one you might see one causing a bigger spike in energy usage.
“That could be a sign that there’s something with that appliance causing higher bills.”
Express.co.uk has contacted Scottish Power asking for comment.
Rip Off Britain continues today at 10:45am on BBC One.
if(typeof utag_data.ads.fb_pixel!==”undefined”&&utag_data.ads.fb_pixel==!0){!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);fbq(‘init’,’568781449942811′);fbq(‘track’,’PageView’)}
