Don’t deal with SSE! (Sandy McMillan)
As we all know Shetland Charitable Trust deals with a high percentage of Shetlanders’ oil money, which in turn gives financial backing to Viking Energy.
Viking Energy is heavily involved with Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) as both are companies which are in pursuit of the development of these dreaded windfarms.
For those who have not heard, SSE has just been fined over £10 million for fraudulently overcharging its customers (they were caught out by the power regulator Ofgem). A firm of this magnitude should be made to pay back every penny which it stole from each customer.
The SIC and Shetland Charitable Trust should have no more dealing with a company that cannot be trusted. It is not as if it was the meter reader – it was the guys at the top of SSE who hatched the scheme.
Companies of this calibre of dishonesty should not be allowed to have any dealings with the SIC or the Shetland Charitable Trust. Although it does not deal directly with the SIC or the charitable trust, SSE is dealing with Viking Energy which is financed by the SIC and the trust.
I hope as long as the SSE is involved in this windfarm project Shetland Islands Council and Shetland Charitable Trust should withdraw from giving any more of our money to support these companies, and put our money to better use.
Sandy McMillan
13 South Lochside,
Lerwick.
David Smith
Get your facts right.. SSE was fined by the Door2Door sales people were not calculating if tariffs with SSE were cheaper or not compared to their current supplier.. Not fraudulent but a training issue with their staff.. So what ypu are saying is rubbish and exagurated.
ian tinkler
David Smith. “Not fraudulent but a training issue with their staff”. David you should join SSE, your idea of honesty would fit in well!!.
Ian Marlee, managing director for markets at Ofgem, said management allowed a “culture of mis-selling to continue” and did not do enough to “prevent sharp selling practices from their selling agents” and even “provided misleading sales scripts”.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/03/uk-sse-ofgem-idUKBRE93206G20130403
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9968305/SSE-fined-record-10.5m-for-mis-selling.html.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17960877
Sandy McMillan
Respective of wether it was the monkey or the organ grinder, it was from the top to the bottom of the SSE, They were all in on the scam, One of the heads of the Company stood in front of a TV camera and addmitted all, he must have been the one speaking rubbish and exagurating, they all knew exactly what they were upto until caught, its not my facts that are wrong, I have never come across a Company the size of SSE that train there staff to fiddle the tariffs so that it cost more for your electricity, well David Smith you better get you fact in some sort of prospective
Douglas Young
It was a staff training issue in that they were, like bankers, trained to remove money from millions of customers with immunity from any police action whatsoever for fraud.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9968305/SSE-fined-record-10.5m-for-mis-selling.html . ……ad nauseum.
Sue Wailoo
So conning people to drum up business is “not fraudulent but a training issue” ! Thatcherism surely does live on.
It also lives on in the misery of folk who can’t afford heating bills every winter while energy companies like SSE make obscene profits. Thatcher it was who stole our public utilities and sold them off to her cronies now the exploiters and speculators of today.
You don’t have to add to SSE’s profits by continuining to buy your electricity from Scottish Hydro which is “a trading name for SSE Energy Supply Ltd “. Why not switch to Co-operative Energy instead and know you are dealing with a business run on co-operative values and principles and owned by its customers and staff. You get points on your Co-op card as well!
Michael valentine
What SSE did was fraudulent at the time. They were miselling and making
Promises on of prices they couldn’t honour. But that said
They were the first to stop selling on the doorstep in 2011 and they were the
Ones that went to Ofgem to tell them so they were honest
In that respect. All energy suppliers are being investigated
For their doorstep selling practices. I have to say I can’t blame their
Telephone staff. I have had to call them loads of times and they have been
The best I have ever dealt with. I think it’s time to bury the hatchet.
ian tinkler
Scottish and Southern, proven sharp practice and fraudulent by Ofgem. Viking Energy found misleading and dishonest by Advertising Standards. Do we really want these corrupted and dishonest organisations pillaging scarce Trust funds??
http://news.stv.tv/north/136517-wind-farm-firm-rapped-over-misleading-advertising/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17960877
David Spence
Never a truer word said Ian.
The deeper you dig, the more dirt you find with these companies and the corrupt manner in which they operate………sorry for harking on about it Ian, but one of the lovely traits of capitalism……..corrupt to the core…….call it ‘ the nature of the beast ‘….it still doesn’t justify what they are doing……. as said profit, greed, lying, cheating and being dishonest are the key factors of any business which puts those values ahead of anything else. Nobody nowadays is really that accountable…….despite regulation…..pass the buck mentality……..as the banks did with their unfair, unjust bank charges (what a disturbing irony, the biggest crooks in society being the banks)
Sandy McMillan
No Company Large or Small gets fined £10.5 MILLION, unless they have broken the law or agreement, Surely the fine that was imposed by OFGEM says it all, they are guilty of the crime, this Company Scottish and Southern Energy is who we Shetlanders finance indirectly through Viking Energy, I think not, NO MORE HAND OUTS TO VE, SSE are criminals in the first instance and should not be trusted, the best SSE can do is start looking else where for MUGS to finance there proposed Wind farms, and leave Shetlands Charitable Trust to get on with helping the Shetland folk, I believe this is the main aim of SCT
Ali Inkster
David I run a business along with my wife and I find your description of ourselves and all other business owners extremely offensive. lying cheating scumbags are not the sole preserve of capitalism as has been pointed out to you before. It is quite possible for someone to wish to make money and better their life by their labours without wishing to rob everyone they come across. In fact without business there would be no taxes, no taxes means no NHS, no public education, no benefits etc etc etc, and just where would you be without any of that.
David Spence
I apologize Ali and to your wife if my comments have offended.
However though, if you look at the bigger picture of how many larger companies operate, my comments would stand ground. I know this may not be applicable to smaller businesses and I apologize once again for causing offence, but the distinct impression many people get of larger corporate companies (as Serco are proving) is they are in it for the profit and gain and not necessarily providing an adequate service or the production of a good product.
As well as this impression, the greater impression many people are getting is the role of our Government and how they are putting ‘ company profits and shareholders ‘ ahead in their agenda to privatize state run services. What compounds this impression even moreso is the billions upon billions the banks have received because society would collapse if we didn’t bail them out. (to date the Tax Payer has given the banks over £141 Billion)
This is what gets many people angry because as a consequence of the banks becoming greedy, everybody in the country is suffering as services by Local Authorities being cut, Local Authorities budgets being cut, the most needy and vulnerable people in society suffering further as a consequence of their benefits being replaced and being reduced, a drastic change in the benefit system (some may say not before time) so as to save the Government money (and no doubt give to the Banks for future bail outs) where this money can be used for less meaningful purposes……Trident Programme, Paying off contractors for contracts that will cost more to cancel than to complete (aircraft carriers) etc etc but not going towards where it should be.
Once again Ali, I apologize for my previous comments.
Sandy McDonald
Was it not Churchill that said “democracy is the worst form of government, apart from all the rest”?
There are worse places to grow and live than the UK, I for one am grateful!
John Tulloch
I had to smile at Friday’s “Spaekalation” as I read of Drew Ratter’s surprise as to how someone – himself – who gets to spout about Marx, Hobsbawm and the “proletariat” in the Shetland Times, a former chairman of both Shetland Charitable Trust and Viking Energy who is an opera-loving renewable energy entrepreneur in his own right, could have been categorised by the BBC online quiz as one of the “elite.”
I’d like to be a fly on the wall when Drew tries to explain to one of the “lumpen proletariat” or the bedroom tax victims why he isn’t one of the “elite.”
John McPhail
“…but the distinct impression many people get of larger corporate companies (as Serco are proving) is they are in it for the profit and gain and not necessarily providing an adequate service or the production of a good product.”
Wow that must be some genius thinking that. To think business is in it to make a profit.
Sorry I am being sarcastic but come on. All business is in it to better the interests of it’s shareholders. On the whole that includes through making money. Indeed the interest of shareholders is of primary importance as the law makes it so. All boards etc must work for the best interests of a business’ Owners.
Now in order to do this, most business need to ensure they can provide a good service which meets the needs and wants of their customers. Competition means failure to do this will mean failure to do well. The problem comes with monopoly business where no competition exists and then quality of service or product may becomes less important. But profit and success is the main motive of all business.
As for bankers. You know what. I don’t blame bankers for the mess we are in. Bankers tried to better their business and by doing this themselves based on the environment they were in.
The banking crisis was one created by governmental failure. The failure to regulate adequately and properly. They allowed the kids to run riot in the sweety shop.
As for Serco. Yup they are bound by the same rules. They have a contract. They have to make it profitable. So they will. They can’t do this entirely to the detriment of us but to be fair each time an operator has taken over the service we moan at them. We moaned at P&O. We moaned at Northlink. Now we’re moaning at the new lot. It never ends. We also have a tendancy to navel gaze even to the extent that we suggest stuffing our neighbours in Orkney because we are clearly more important.
Can we grow up.
Sandy McMillan
Of course firm are in business to make profit, when it come to Fraud,Stealing from there client that is a totally different kettle of fish,this is the reason Scottish and Southern Energy were fined £10.5 million, respective of which company does wrong be it Serco, P&O, SSE if they do the crime then they must do the time.
David Spence
Yes John, I get your point, and yes most businesses operate to make a profit….I’ve taken note lol
The main difference, as you have pointed out, when it comes to certain state run services being transferred to the private sector, it usually ends up with that company have the monopoly, thus no other competition threatening it. It is circumstances like this (as mentioned previously with Serco) which does highlight and emphasizes a company’s true agenda in taking advantage of it situation and maximizing its profits for itself as well as its shareholders.
I would have to say a prime example of this is the privatization of the water and sewerage industry where, despite what little investment they put into the industry, it seems very evident that profit and shareholders are paramount to providing an adequate service for them but not necessarily for the consumer. I am very intrigued as to why the sales of bottled water have increased tremendously just after the privatization of the industry from the state, and why should this be if the private companies were doing the job they are supposed to do there would be, or shouldn’t be, not not for such a product (bottled water) in the first place. As well as this, the massive wastage of water due to the private companies not properly investing in the industry and doing a proper job of repairing or renewing pipes and other aspects of the industry………in many cases, the water companies using chemicals instead of proper filtration as a cheaper means of making the water safe (said very loosely) to consume.
It is examples like this which highlight my previous comments, and why it is that many other people also get this impression in regards to how certain businesses are run.