Scottish Power billing complaints rose by more than half

Energywatch Scotland said a 52% increase in complaints was the result of lack of investment in customer services and staff training.

Scottish Power said it received a tiny number of complaints, despite the rise.

In the same six-month period, complaints against Scottish Hydro Electric and Scottish Gas went down.

Energywatch said Scottish Power's record was totally out of line with industry standards and branded the firm the worst for billing Scottish customers.

Scottish Power has really taken off as a company but has failed to put the infrastructure in place to deal with this growth Graeme Kerr Energywatch Scotland

It cited inaccurate or non-existent bills and large one-off demands which customers could not afford.

While specific complaints about Scottish Power bills rose by 52%, Scottish Hydro Electric saw a drop of 27% and Scottish Gas experienced a fall of 16%.

Graeme Kerr, of Energywatch Scotland, warned that Scottish Power needed to take immediate action.

He said: "It is unacceptable that other companies have managed to bring the level of complaints down yet Scottish Power has not.

Billing problems

"The complaints about billing stem mainly from the fact Scottish Power has really taken off as a company but has failed to put the infrastructure in place to deal with this growth."

Scottish Power is currently caught up in billing problems with more than 150,000 of its three million customers in Scotland, which it blamed partly on customers switching supply.

A spokesman said: "Let's keep it in perspective. A 50% increase on a tiny number is still a tiny number.

"Billing complaints have grown by about 170 a month.

"We have gained around 65,000 customers a month and now have a customer base of about 5.1m.