Fuel giant faces grilling by MPs over cashback scheme scandal
FAMILIES left millions of pounds out of pocket after the collapse of a ScottishPower cashback scheme have seen their case taken up by MPs.
Campaigners are calling for the energy giant to be referred to fraud and financial conduct regulators over claims it has backtracked on decadeold agreements worth £75million.
They estimate 625,000 customers, including 290,000 in Scotland, did not receive their cashback sums.
An All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) of MPs will start taking evidence next month and could refer the case to a select committee if it believes ScottishPower has a case to answer.
Callum McCaig, Nationalist MP for Aberdeen South and vice-chairman of the APPG on ScottishPower’s Cashback Scandal group, said: ‘Over 290,000 people in Scotland bought into ScottishPower’s cashback promise and years later they still haven’t seen a penny.
‘It cannot be right that when customers buy a product in good faith that does not deliver, no one is held to account.’
ScottishPower, which categorically denies any wrongdoing, offered cashback incentives when selling warranties for electrical goods bought in stores from 1997. However, in 2001, it sold its stores to a company called Power House.
When customers tried to claim cashback there was a contractual dispute between the firms and ScottishPower handed over only £6million.
Power House and a company called Power Plan, set up to run the warranty scheme, subsequently went into liquidation.
One liquidators, KSA Group, is considering launching a £75million legal claim against ScottishPower.
Alan Campbell, an insurance expert who advised the energy giant on the warranty scheme and was one of the original directors of Power Plan, has led the campaign to recoup people’s money.
He said: ‘ScottishPower has some difficult questions to answer. We want MPs to get a regulatory body to evaluate the evidence independently and take steps if they find something untoward. If ScottishPower has acted dishonestly we want to see it referred to the Business Select Committee.’
Crucially, the Business Select Committee has the power to compel ScottishPower directors to give evidence at Westminster, which the APPG does not. Mr Campbell added: ‘ScottishPower would have to give a proper account of what happened. They could be referred to a regulatory body – that could be the Serious Fraud Office or the Financial Conduct Authority.’
Andrew Percy MP, and chairman of the APPG, said: ‘This cashback issue seems to have slipped through every regulatory crack and ScottishPower has yet to be called to account. Around 625,000 people are still owed over £75million.’
A ScottishPower spokesman said: ‘ScottishPower emphatically rejects any suggestion of improper conduct. The Power Plan scheme is the subject of threatened court proceedings and it is accordingly inappropriate for ScottishPower to comment further.’
‘Difficult questions to answer’