Adversities of life in the 21st Century

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.

We received a reply from Westminster the other day. Essentially the reply was unremarkable in that Westminster recommend that we get a Solicitor. Now does this mean that they are humouring us or do they genuinely think we have a case? I'd like to think that it is the later; however getting a Solicitor to take on the case is proving very difficult.

From my point of view, I could direct him to a possible cause. Being on a split feed system means that there is one feed comes in from the mains and is looped around all four properties in our block. Each property has its own meter. However the main junction is located at our neighbour's house. Now around three years ago my neighbour smelled burning coming from his meter cupboard. It turns out that one of the fuses in this shared system was on the verge of catching fire. This was subsequently repaired. When we redoubled our efforts to get to the bottom of our electrical fault, someone from Power Systems (the company responsible for mains maintenance) was sent to investigate the problem. He discovered another fuse at my neighbour's house was on the verge of catching fire. Again this was repaired; however no-one has ever tried to determine the cause of these near disasters. Someone from Power Systems called Stefan once said to us "Yes you do have a problem, but we don't know what it is" and left it at that. Afterwards he denied ever saying that.

Received another letter from Westminster today, requesting I send a copy of the Ombudsman's decision. Does this mean I'm finally getting somewhere? I'd like to think so, however I fear that this may just be wishful thinking on my part. I will try to get a copy sent off tomorrow morning.

At the very least I now know someone is taking the time to review my case.

Have sent a reply to Westminster detailing all the figures that we highlighted in my last entry. Again I don't expect much, as Scottish Fuck-ups usually ignore Westminster too. What I really need is to find a solicitor willing to take on my case. I Have also written to Rodger Jeffries who is the watchdog of the Energy Supplier Ombudsman Service. I have written to him before and my letter was intercepted by someone in the Ombudsman Service (apparently this is procedural) who following their own (unrequested) review granted permission for me to contact Mr Jeffries directly.