Published: Wednesday, 30th April, 2008 09:00
Gas bill dispute nearing the end
By Susie Penman
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IT is a situation that residents in the Galashiels neighbourhoods of Meigle View and Riddle Dumble Park are well-versed in: the Scottish Gas meter mix-up that has been confusing residents in the two estates for years now.
But, in what could prove to be the beginning of the end, one Meigle View homeowner has had a year’s worth of her gas bill waived.
Having not receiving a proper gas bill for months after moving into her home in 2005, Pauline Ward received a letter from Scottish Gas explaining that all her payments from August 2005 to October 2006 have been wiped clean.
In the meantime, the waiting game continues—for her second bill, which will have to be paid.
“Hopefully everyone who’s not had a bill will get it wiped out,” Ms Ward said.
“I’m more than pleased,” she added.
“I got a year’s free gas. If I had known that, I would have had it on all the time.”
But Tracey Alder, secretary for the Meigle View and Riddle Dumble Park residents group, said nothing has been resolved regarding her own bills.
“It’s absolutely diabolical,” she said.
Scottish Gas have been sorting out payment schemes for tenants, and have said that it won’t be a problem if some need longer than 12 months to spread the balance, although 24 months is the longest they can allow.
And for some residents—like Ms Ward—the compensation will fall under the back-billing rule, meaning that Scottish Gas will only charge the customer for the last 12 months usage and wipe off anything prior to that.
Accounts that, for whatever reason, do not fall into this category, will have either 10 or 15 per cent taken from the balance.
A spokeswoman from Scottish Gas said that their approach to the bills will in no way be “cookie-cutter”, and that each will have to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
She added, however, “It’s industry practice that you can’t pursue debt that’s more than 12 months old.”
And regarding the most recent delay, Scottish Gas had been waiting on confirmation from Scottish Borders Council on the addresses for plots being matched up to meter numbers—information that only received yesterday.
“Since yesterday, we’ve been working very hard on this,” she said.
“This latest delay is something we’ve had no control over.”
She added: “Hopefully everything resolved this week.”
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