Scottish Power

Gillyc_3

Hi, I had a very nice chap from Scottish Power knock on my door yesterday saying that it was the last day that I could sign up for their Fixed Price Energy 2009 Offer and furthermore, he was authorised to extend the cap until September 2010. I was already capped with eon until March 2010, but the chap said that as their prices are cheaper and I'd get an extra 6 months capped, theirs was the better deal. So I was convinced and signed the documents.

However, once the chap had gone, I read the bumpf he had left me and discovered that there is a daily service charge of 23.34p for electricity and 20.35p for gas giving a total daily service charge of 43.69p and a yearly service charge of almost £160, which funnily enough the chap didn't point out! I'm not paying a daily charge at the moment with eon.

I've been looking on this site to see what Martin recommends we do and I did notice that he says the cheapest capped price is Scottish Power followed by eon but that both these tariffs 'were finally closed to any form of access late in the afternoon of Fri 1 August'. So I was a bit chuffed that I managed to sign up on 4th August.

Anyway, I have 7 days to change my mind so was wondering whether any of you good people can advise me whether to cancel the change-over or to go ahead with the switch bearing in mind that I am a very low user and now only spend £40 a month for both gas and electricity, I object to spending £160 a year service charge before I've even used and gas or electricity. Is Scottish Power really still the best deal?

Many thanks in advance, Gilly

A_fiend_for_life

I am currently with Scottish Power and am paying standing charges of 11.070pence per day for gas and 15.810 for electricity. So those standing charges look very high to me not sure what other folks are paying for standing charges.

The yearly service charge of £160 sounds like it is optional and sounds like it has been slipped under the radar but I'd wait and see what other folk say first.

Some folk on here say that ebico is a good choice / best choice for low users and no standing charges. Going by my usage it is the best I have come up with so far. There is a single tier tariff for gas and electricity so you pay the same per kWh regardless of how much you use.

Gillyc_3

The £160 standing charge is just 365 x 43.69p per day, approximately, it's not an additional charge, it's dear enough already!

withabix

If you're a low user you would probably be better off cancelling, in my opinion.

A_fiend_for_life

Gillyc wrote: »

However, once the chap had gone, I read the bumpf he had left me and discovered that there is a daily service charge of 23.34p for electricity and 20.35p for gas giving a total daily service charge of 43.69p and a yearly service charge of almost £160, which funnily enough the chap didn't point out! I'm not paying a daily charge at the moment with eon.
Many thanks in advance, Gilly

Hi Gillyc

It is the above paragraph that has confused me I missed that you were calling 'standing charge' a 'service charge'. So thought you were paying a standing charge of £160 and a service charge - boiler maintenance etc of £160.

Sorry bout the confusion.

There is an ebico thread here that might be useful but try the price comparison tools at the top of the Gas and Elec section too. This should allow you to see some of the pros and cons. But they don't do capped prices.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1057555

Any idea what your annual usage is?

I would suggest canceling if you are actually a low user my usage last year to June was 10,000kwh gas and 2800kWh electricity. Annual cost £650 - roughly.

Hope this helps!

ronniemcinnes

1st of all all door to door reps were told that the fixed price 2009 would end at the close of play on 4th Aug, so your rep was correct.
2nd, have never heard of this being extended into 2010, I would phone customer services regarding that claim.
If you look at the price tariff sheet he left you , you should see that there is a no standing chrage option, this could have been ticked on the contract form.
as you are already on a fixed with EON , check to see if you would be liable to pay a cancellation fee for your gas and electric, typically £20 for elec £30 for gas.
hope some of this helps

Gillyc_3

Sorry A Friends for Life, my fault, I do get confused easily! I meant standing charge not service charge, d'oh!

RonnieMcinnes, you were right, I called ScottishPower and apparently the chap was lying to me about extending the cap until September 2010, so slapped wrists for him! They did, however put me on a no standing charge option, so now I've got to do my sums yet again and see whether it's better to stay capped with eon until March 2010 or switch to ScottishPower and be capped until Sept 2009, aaarrrrgggghhhh, hassle!

My annual charge is approx £480 by the way, for whoever asked!

Thanks very much for all your help!