Adversities of life in the 21st Century

Sorry I haven't written much lately, however nothing much has been happening lately.

Anyway I was reading in one of the papers the other day that the average household electricity bill had breached £1300.00, and I'm thinking to myself - Is that all? God, I was paying £4121.00 some 5 years ago, but apparently didn't have a problematic electricity supply. I'm currently only paying £1500.00 and all that has changed is the meter. If anything I use more appliances than previous years, but don't use the same high level of electricity. How do you explain that? One thing for certain is that Scottish Fuck-ups can't and indeed won't. As long as they get "their" money they don't give a rat's arse.

A couple of months ago we decided that we'd had enough of Scottish Power's theft. I took 2 weeks off work as annual leave and spent the entire 2 weeks decorating and taking care of all those minor jobs around the home that never seem to get any attention. We painted the front extension - inside and out. Did the hand rails just inside the front gate. I repaired the leaky toilet and re-decorated the bathroom. We re-arranged the kitchen extension and hung new curtains. Shampooed carpets, redecorated the hall, hung new curtains in the living room. Removed my gym equipment and re-instated the third Bedroom. Generally tidied our 2 attic rooms, and re-felted the roof of the Garage and garden shed. Tidied the gardens front and rear. Generally spruced the place up in keeping with other properties in the area.

He then said he would be happy to put my house on the market for £70,000.00 - £80,000.00 which is around £40,000.00 - £50,000.00 less than the average price of similar 3 bed roomed unextended properties for sale in the same area. You may be thinking that the other properties on the market may be overpriced, however several of them are already under offer.

Today I received a letter from another incompetent at Scottish Fuck-ups. This lastest waste of Oxygen tells me that as I pay quarterly on receipt of bills I am missing out on great savings from Scottish Fuck-ups. This is too good an opportunity to miss so a letter is merited.

So I'll have to content myself with writing to Mr Moron at Scottish Fuck-ups and, following a few pages of derogatory prose, suggest he actually read my file and then crawl back under whichever rock he came from.

Just to let everyone know that the man from Power Systems(Scottish Power) has been to check the Shared Cable Head. The outcome was, as you've probably guessed already, the least surprising in the history of surprising outcomes - "there is no problem evident". This is however a little strange as there have been 2 burned fuses in as many years at the main cable head just over a year ago. Furthermore, despite knowing that all four properties are connected, he only checked ours and our neighbour at 108. Once again no-one has bothered to check 112 or 106.

I have contacted "The Judge" at "The Sunday Mail" again just to update him on how things have progressed since my last contact. Again I don't expect any assistance from anyone, people nowadays are far too apathetic to get involved in anyone elses contretemps. As I've previously said if this were Hollywood, then just about now some insignificant character would find the solution, the entire situation would be turned on its head, we would be vindicated, and everyone would live happily ever after.....except Scottish Power, who would then be left to pay out to all the customers they've cheated over the years. Sadly though, this is real life, most people today would read this in the papers, at best shake their heads knowingly and say "that's terrible", and then move on to the sports section.

Filled out form supplied by Power Systems to allow investigation/upgrading of the shared cable head. Posted today. Need to speak to next door neighbour to see if he has completed his form yet. It seems he has had as many problems as I have had, trying to find power ratings of things like water heaters and Power Showers even cookers. I'm not quite sure why this information is required prior to an inspection visit, but can see the need for it as an indicator of the necessity for fuse upgrade.

At this juncture in time I would advise anyone with any complaint against a utility company - don't use the Ombudsman Service - its a waste of time and resources. Instead I would recommend the Citizens Advice Bureau. At least they genuinely try to help.

I received a letter from a Shona Drummond, who seemingly works for Power Systems - which incidentally is a branch of Scottish Power; not a separate company as I was lead to believe. She has requested a rough guide to our power usage, to determine if an upgraded fuse is required at the cable head. She has also requested the same information from our next door neighbour at 108.

Incidentally the electricians who came to repair the fuse could not tell who the burning fuse belonged to so switched the power to all the properties off. So how then was Frank adamant that the burning fuse was not ours, but indeed belonged to 106?

I received my latest letter from Scottish Power today. As much as I distrust the motives, it appears that Mr Pensom is following through with his assertion that he wants to help us. I, for my part still believe it is just a ruse to get us to pay more money again. However I said I would give him a chance and so far it appears he has passed my concerns on to Power Systems regarding the cable head. What happens next is anybodys guess. I am still of a mind to keep plugging away with my complaint, but I'll give him some time to see if he can change my opinion.

I have just completed my latest letter to Roger Jeffries detailing why I believe the Ombudsmans "investigation" was less than fastidious. I have stated that I have no intentions of entering into a long drawn out discussion by letter, however I needed to point out failures by the Ombudsman's Service which clearly would have had a major impact on how the case was conducted after the said investigation should have taken place.

I still don't think that Colin Pensom is going to help us. I think this is purely a ploy to get us to pay money that we are not due. I'll save my next plan of action until I see the results of Mr Pensom's efforts

Interesting week - electrically speaking. Received my reply from Rodger Jeffries, and unsurprisingly he found in favour of the Ombudsman's service. He feels the Ombudsman Service carried out a good investigation of my case. This is despite several points made by me which are irrefutable. For example in Scottish Power's statement to the Ombudsman they maintain that they sent me bills during the period 1999 to 2001. Yet, a) They tell me they don't have records dating that far back due to the guidelines of the Statute of Limitations; and b) Having received all documentation regarding my case, under the Freedom of Information Act, one of the first documents we find relates reasons for non-issue of bills during the period December 1999 to July 2001. Again in their statement to the Ombudsman - Scottish Power state that they requested I get my own independent electrician to check my wiring, but I have failed confirm that this has been carried out. In my response to the Ombudsman I sent a copy of the email I received from Rae Brown at Scottish Power acknowledging I have had an independent electrician check my wiring along with a signed statement from the electrician concerned. Thirdly Scottish Power also stated to the Ombudsman that they repeatedly sent letters to me whilst I was on direct debit between 2005 and 2006, stating that I needed to increase my payments. In response I sent copies of the letters I received with the phrase "You need do nothing" highlighted along with the dates also highlighted. However despite this electric companies generally increase your payments without making a direct request to you anyway - borne out in the many forums there are on the subject. The Ombudsman essentially accepted everything Scottish Power said and nothing we said. Regrettably Rodger Jeffries sees this as a "good Investigation". I sincerely hope I never encounter a poor investigation then!!

I also have an admission by Scottish Power that indeed my usage appears too high indicating a fault somewhere. But they don't know where. In one sense this makes me happy, however if they are aware that there is the potential for my claim to be correct, why are they still demanding all the money they are demanding? And why aren't they looking for the fault, or forcing Power Systems to look for the fault? I would have thought that the 2 burnt fuses in the space of 2 years at the main cable head was proof enough of where the fault may be. Combine that with my high bills and my neighbours (where the faulty cable head is) high bills £1600.00 and them being pensioners, it doesn't take a genius to put the facts together and come up with the answer.

Have just finished composing a letter to send to Mr Colin Pensom at Scottish Power. I am naturally suspicious of peoples motives, however against my better judgement I have been talked into accepting his desire to help us at face value, and at least give him the opportunity to surprise me. It remains to be seen whether he is part of the solution or just another part of the problem.