Add your feedback on energy supplier Scottish Power

Former_MSE_Samantha
Former_MSE_Samantha Posts: 24 Forumite
edited 23 October 2014 at 9:26AM in Energy
This is a feedback thread on energy supplier
Scottish Power

Please share your experience with other MoneySavers. Click reply to take part

  • Did you switch go smoothly?
  • Have you had problems since?
  • Is it easy to contact?
The feedback comes as part of the


Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, watch our New to Forum? Intro Guide.
Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, watch our New to Forum? Intro Guide.
«13456776

Comments

  • This is a feedback thread on energy supplier
    Scottish Power

    Please share your experience with other MoneySavers. Click reply to take part


    • Did you switch go smoothly?
    • Have you had problems since?
    • Is it easy to contact?
    The feedback comes as part of the

    Cheap Energy Club


    Scottish Powers secondary consumption charge of 16.547 pence per kwh in the former MANWEB area is the highest in the country. I switched to the Co-op energy last month for a projected saving of £92 per year. Switch went very smoothly, no problems. Just make sure you take the final readings on the switch day your new supplier informs you of.
  • Wywth
    Wywth Posts: 5,079 Forumite
    edited 4 February 2013 at 4:00PM
    Switches to and from Scottish Power went quite smoothly.
    One issue when switching away is to note that that any refund of accrued credit is paid by cheque.
    Not sure if this is a good or a bad thing - at least you know when you have received it, but you do need to go to the bank to deposit it which can mean another 6 working days to fully clear (not that it is likely to bounce, but still 4 working days to access)
    Also, oddly, despite me giving the same meter reading to both the new supplier and the old supplier on the date I left SP, SP actually billed me to a lower reading for some reason (the new supplier used the reading I provided)
    I called SP to alert them to the difference, but they just said "oh well you got a bit of free energy - we won't bother changing things now"

    When I did joiun SP, I originally switched one fuel and later switched the other (so making it dual fuel) to another tariff. Their system didn't seem able to cope with this and it needed some behind the scenes fiddling at their end to allow - essentially they held me on the original tariff until the second fuel switched then backdated things. You need to trust they will do what they promise, but it all worked out ok for me in the end :)

    They are easy to contact, but beware they may keep you holding on the line a long time for which they charge you (alternative freephone number is available from saynoto0870)
    Alternatively they offer a call back service at their expense, calling you back when they are free ... but will you be by that time?
  • I switched to Scottish Power last year from British Gas. I was happy with British Gas but at the end of the day I will switch if prices are cheaper elsewhere (except for nPower who I can't stand). I own a few properties and I switched all of them. They all went smoothly more or less. The frustrating thing was that they kept switching my tariff from an online saver to standard one because apparently they couldn't get hold of me by e-mail which was nonsense. Because I wasn't clicking on links in their e-mail often enough they did this. I recall making several phone calls getting the tariff switched back for all the properties to which they always apologised. Still, it was a pointless inconvenience.

    Other than that I haven't had any problems with Scottish Power since per se, however I do miss British Gas. Their online account system is far more up to date and user friendly, and their customer service is more helpful and you can get through to them much quicker. Also because British Gas doesn't have antiquated systems, I never received any hassle about how often I was logging in.

    I will leave Scottish Power as soon as there are cheaper tariffs out there and my fixed deal is up.
  • LindieR
    LindieR Posts: 12
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    ok switched, lets see what happens
  • Pincher
    Pincher Posts: 6,552
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Switched to Scottish Power middle of October 2012.
    So far so good.
  • cifpower
    cifpower Posts: 6,502 Forumite
    I have never had any major problems with SP. Easy to contact via email, phone or twitter. Their online service is great and the tariff i chose last year was very cheap. Alas it ends in May
  • withabix
    withabix Posts: 9,508 Forumite
    edited 5 February 2013 at 7:13AM
    1) Scottish Power habitually increase your Direct Debit to a level that ENSURES that your account is ALWAYS in credit by a significant amount.

    Monthly payment budget accounts should balance credit and debit balances throughout the year, so that your average balance is close to £0, NOT so that the MINIMUM balance is a credit of several hundred pounds. At the end of the high consumption period (eg May), your balance should be negative by between a quarter and a half of your annual consumption.

    Can the Scottish Power Company Representative please post here to explain why this is. Please do not post garbage which tries to justify that this is in the customer's benefit.

    2) Their website is almost always broken at weekends.

    3) Online tariff changes magically do not work for several weeks before a cheap rate is due to end.
    British Ex-pat in British Columbia!
  • HalfPint
    HalfPint Posts: 646
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    I switched from BG to SP in November and have had no problems whatsoever.

    The switchover was smooth and easy, DD stayed more or less the same and I found the whole processes to be stress free.

    So far so good in my book.

    HP x
    DEBT FREE DATE: 05/02/2015!

    Those things in life that we find the hardest to do, are the things we are the most thankful we did.
  • I switched to SP 2-3 years ago, a smooth process and service has been pretty good with only one major power outage not of SP's making.

    They have a call-back service which I've just tested and they kept to their timing via a polite and pleasant operative.

    However, I've just joined the Cheap Energy Club and I see that the deal I've been offered is not included in their list (well, I think it's not but focusing is not my strong suit):

    Online Fixed Price Energy September 2014.
  • r32
    r32 Posts: 28 Forumite
    withabix wrote: »
    1) Scottish Power habitually increase your Direct Debit to a level that ENSURES that your account is ALWAYS in credit by a significant amount.

    Monthly payment budget accounts should balance credit and debit balances throughout the year, so that your average balance is close to £0, NOT so that the MINIMUM balance is a credit of several hundred pounds. At the end of the high consumption period (eg May), your balance should be negative by between a quarter and a half of your annual consumption.

    Just to balance this out, I've been with Scottish Power for 6 years and my direct debit has been pretty much bang on over that time period to keep my account near £0.

    It has moved up and down when they re-assess and my account has never had a huge credit.

    All done online and I submit my own actual readings every quarter.
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