A Ross-shire woman has blasted SSE after waiting two years to get her electricity meter and tariff changed.
Alanna Ross, 41, from Kildary, says she had to complain to the Energy Ombudsman four times about the problems.
The trouble started when she moved into her current house in November 2020.
After installing oil heating, Mrs Ross got in touch with SSE, notifying them and she wanted to be put on a single tariff and get a pay-as-you-go smart meter.
An appointment was made for January 2021, with Mrs Ross booking time off work to be at home, however, the engineer was a no show and it was rearranged for March.
Things began to get ‘really stupid’
SSE then told her that a visit could only be arranged in an emergency due to Covid.
In July, Mrs Ross said things began to get “really stupid” and she made a complaint to the ombudsman.
She told them she was getting nowhere with SSE and had been left out of pocket.
She said: “They apologised, I think we got about £100 compensation and it was a case of, ‘we’ll get an engineer appointment sorted out for you no problem and we’ll do it on a Saturday’.”
But Mrs Ross later found out they did not offer Saturday appointments and told the complaints team to just set a date and she would make sure someone was at home to let the engineer in.
‘I was basically having to put money away’
Adding to the frustration, Mrs Ross was unable to get a bill from SSE as they had classed her account as being in “transition”.
“We didn’t know what we were using, so I was basically having to put money away just to cover the bill when it did come in,” she said.
An appointment was arranged for October to install the meter and her mum went to the property to be there.
But on the day, Mrs Ross claims the engineer called and told her he’d been booked to install a pay as you go key meter, and that he “didn’t have time” to fit a smart meter.
Mrs Ross told him to change it, as this would be “one step closer to the goal”.
A new appointment was booked and an engineer attended towards the end November, but could not complete the work due to the national database not being updated.
‘This is getting ridiculous
Mrs Ross said: “By this point, I was getting a bit annoyed. I said, ‘come on, this is getting ridiculous’.”
She also explained to him that she needed to get her tariff changed and was promised that it would be “today”.
In January 2022, an engineer installed the smart meter, however, it was not working and again she struggled to get through to SSE.
When she finally did, SSE confirmed they would need to send an engineer out to replace it and an emergency appointment was booked for the next day.
However, Mrs Ross tested positive with Covid-19 and had to cancel the call out.
SSE told her to call after her self-isolation period ended and when she did was told that they could not send out an emergency engineer and would need to wait for 28 days.
Ombudsman ordered SSE to compensate Mrs Ross
Mrs Ross said she received a refund in April from the company for a “duplicate” payment and has “had various phone calls” throughout last year to try and get everything resolved once and for all.
In October, the Energy Ombudsman said SSE had to provide a goodwill gesture of £125, amongst others, although Mrs Ross is still waiting for it.
Mrs Ross said: “The whole situation has been very stressful and frustrating, but the fight continues.”
A spokeswoman for Ovo, which acquired SSE’s retail arm in January 2020, said: “We’re very sorry to Mrs Ross for the cancellations. We have rebooked an appointment to ensure her meter is changed as an urgent priority.”
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