Thanks that is helpfull, at this stage i wouldnt critasise the electrician simply because the seal was NOT broken, and that i can prove. I'm not the most trusting of people :) and when they said they wanted to change thew meter, i saw the potential for a messy situation. So I took photos! these are after the work from the boiler and before scottish power inspected them. they show the seals on the fuse box and the meter and also show the electricity readings at that time and so can be used to date the photos. Part of my problem is the fact that im not even sure there was a bypass!

As yet i havent contacted anyone, the letter only arrived Saturday lunch time , and im just about to sit down and start a few phone callss and letters, i can realy start asking NICEIC questions till I know what scottish power are saying has happend.

md.ford:

I have a letter of "electrical installation work certificate of compliance" from NICEIC for the work that was done.

Then there is the fact that i just dont have that kind of money, so there is no way i can pay it.

In that case why not a subject of the form "incompetent NICEIC accredited electrician causes extortionate bill"?

Secondly, regretably the difficulty in meeting the bill is not at all relevant in addressing the issue.

OK, what to do. I'm a great believer in extending a piece of rope to unwary organisations. I'd do an SAR and separately write a nice letter asking how the charge was calculated because "on the face it, it seems excessive". Don't tell them it was only a boiler, you are trying to find out either what they know or what they don't know. If you are not satisfied with the response raise a formal complaint strictly in accordance with the SP complaints procedure. Pick a point that was not well answered, for example any unsubstantiated assumption that departs from "just a boiler". Either they knew it was "just a boiler" in which case the charge is excessive, or they didn't know in which case you can allege an inadequate investigation and unfair calculation.

There are technical and procedural issues surrounding the connection to the meter, some of which the supplier is directly or indirectly a party to. (Strictly speaking, the meter is owned by the Distribution Network Operator (or DNO), which may or may not be Scottish Power). It would not have been possible to connect to the meter without breaking a meter seal. Was the seal remade and if so by whom? Was the cut-out fuse (and seal) removed to facilitate the work? Was that seal remade, if so by whom? Have you asked for NICEIC's explanation? Perhaps they have a formal complaints procedure you could exploit.

Once you get the SAR stuff back (in 40 days) I am certain there will be plenty of gaps to drive wedges through.

md.ford - I am fully willing to pay for what I use. The only thing running outside the meter was an Isar condensing gas boiler. Scottish power are asking for £682 from 19-jun-07 to 11-Dec-09 which to me at least seems A little over the top. Then there is the fact that i just dont have that kind of money, so there is no way i can pay it.

Firstly thanks for the response, I was unaware there was such a thing as a "subject access request" which is the type of information i need and the reason I am posting on forums. I will look into this further.

As for scottish extortion, thats quite simple scottish as in scottish power

Extortion as in one of the meanings of the word, An excessive or exorbitant charge.

And i understand that i am "responsable" as you put it for the power I use, but I have acted in "good faith". I have a letter of "electrical installation work certificate of compliance" from NICEIC for the work that was done. And I am no electrician, there is no way for me too know that the work wasn`t done right. How many people would check that someone fitting a boiler had wired into the outlet of the meter and not the intake?

I am fully willing to pay for what I use. The only thing running outside the meter was an Isar condensing gas boiler. Scottish power are asking for £682 from 19-jun-07 to 11-Dec-09 which to me at least seems A little over the top. Then there is the fact that i just dont have that kind of money, so there is no way i can pay it.

md.ford:

Can anyone suggest anything I can do about this? Am I actually responsible? And how could they come up with such a ... figure .

Firstly what exactly is "Scottish Extortion"? You will fight this (quite difficult) issue better by being less judgemental (see the answer to your next question).

As the account holder you are "responsible" for paying the supplier even if you are not to blame. Whether you own or rent the property may influence whether there is potential to offload any "blame", but it's a pity the evidence has been destroyed by "correcting the meter" because given the passage of time it will be difficult to "prove blame" without evidence.

A supplier is fully entitled to recover the cost of unmetered electricity (from the account holder). You should ask Scottish Power to explain the basis of the "assessment". Post again if you either don't get an explanation or don't understand the explanation.

In situations like this I strongly recommend making a £10 Subject Access Request to obtain copies of all records Scottish Power hold about you and your account. Woe betide them if the records supplied don't demonstrate the 12 months of emails, phone calls and visits etc and their description of the problem with the wiring.

This may not be the right place for this post, as its as much legal as electrical, but as I cant sleep due too stress levels, So I thought someone may be able too offer some advice.

Around 4 years ago I had a new boiler fitted under the warm front grant program, during the installation, I was informed my “existing wiring was not suitable”. So they installed a new fuse box and ran everything from there, this is a gas boiler btw, the electric was just for the timer and boiler electrics.

Now around 2 years ago I got a letter from Scottish power saying my meter was getting old and needed changing. I arranged this as it stated it was important. The man came looked at the meter said something about the fact it had an old style fuse that needed replacing and he couldn’t do it. Over the next 12 months and loads of emails, phone calls etc I had 3 more people come out shake there heads and say they cant do it, until finally someone turned up without an appointment too basically say the electric meter was wired wrong and that I was bypassing it!. It turns out apparently that this fuse box for the boiler was wired into the wrong side of the meter and the electricity it was using wasn’t going through the meter, but shouldn’t be a problem as only the timer which hasn’t even worked for 2 years now was wired too it.

Today I got a letter from Scottish power saying there charging me £682.69 because of this for assessed units used between 2007 and 2009.

Can anyone suggest anything I can do about this? Am I actually responsible? And how could they come up with such a stupid figure especially since they corrected the meter, my usage hasn’t gone up it’s gone down!. There is no way I can pay this amount. Oh and they STILL havent replaced the old meter !

Thanks in advance.