Approximately five months after purchasing the property, clearing the site and demolishing the interior and the rear vestry, I had a national power company install single phase electricity
and a meter into the building. It was from here on that my problems with this electricity provider began.
I received an estimated bill going back 4 years before I bought the property, relating to 3 meters that were apparently installed in 1972, but were no longer on site. Their records showed that they were still there, and that because it was “a church” it was estimated on business usage. The meter that I had installed by them had not been updated to the national database, so the electricity supplier couldn’t see it, so wouldn’t update any readings, but continued to pursue me for the estimated bills for 3 meters that weren’t on site. I called the complaints department who asked for photos of the new meter, and proof of when I purchased the property. However I still received letters demanding payment for estimated business usage for the 3 meters. One day 2 collection agents arrived at the property. I wasn’t there, but my contractor was and he asked who they were. They said they were going to gain access. Fortunately, the contractor had his large dog with him, and he refused to let them enter as I wasn’t on site. On seeing his dog they left quickly! When the contractor told me what had happened, I once again called the suppliers complaints department, and they arranged for an advisor to have a telephone appointment with me to sort the issue out. They never made the telephone appointment, so I took the matter up with the Ombusdsman.
The Ombudsman looked into my complaint about the electricity provider and upheld it, advising the supplier to close my account that they had attached the 3 non existent meters to, update the database with the new meter, write off late payment and collection agent fees, send me a letter of apology and pay a sum of compensation. The electricity provider is now working through the conditions set out in law by the Ombudsman, so in total it will have taken 4 years to finally resolve all this (fingers crossed!)
The next issue was with the billing company for the water supplier. Considering there is no water connected, and never has been; this again was estimated as a business, “it’s a church” , and back dated to 4 years before I purchased the property. It took numerous phone calls, and even a letter from my solicitor, after the billing company threatened legal action, for them to send a representative out to the site and confirm there was no water connection. To my great annoyance I still got estimated backdated bills and threatened with legal action for non payment. When I called yet again to raise a formal complaint, they confirmed that my account had been closed as there was no water connection, but there was an outstanding balance going back some years they were chasing! I explained what had happened before and that I would not be paying arrears on usage that had never been there, and raised a formal complaint. This has now been escalated to the water supplier asking them to remove the estimated arrears. They have until middle January to get back to me with a resolution and if not I will need to raise my complaint with the Scottish Ombudsman.
The irony is, I now need a water connection! The water supplier website isn’t the most user friendly, but we eventually the received the Pre-Development Enquiry Report, after they requested drawings of the site after it has been extended, a floor plan, and a specific site map. Upon receipt of their report confirming there was no issue with capacity and demand on their side, we then had to apply for connection to the mains and sewerage, with a drawing of the plumbing layout, a copy of the plans and reference number of the approved planning. Once they have approved the application a track test of the site has to be carried out to ensure all works has been done correctly so they can connect us up. This is still work in progress!
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