Scottish Power

Hanoijane

Hmmm. Someone came here last week from sco-po to read the gas meter.

"Not reading the electric as well then?" no.

Surprise surprise back yesterday to read the elecs.

How they make any money escapes me.

Tania_2

Wish I'd read this before signing up for Scot Power. Took age to transfer, now haven't a clue how much am using. unable to look at online account. have emailed several times, no reply. Does anyone actually work there? Will prob. cancel direct debit then see what happens. Any suggestions for new supplier?
and yes I fell for the "they're the cheapest" bit too.

loon_2

all comapnies have to use third party meter readers, so that gain no competitive edge. the industrial stipulations are that gas only needs to be read once a year and elec twice. if you get told that your meters will always be read, it may not be the case, as suppliers do not read meters.

with regards to reading both at the same time... most companies will employ agency staff to read meters and in order to keep costs down they read meters seperately. even if both meters are read at the same time, it is likely that only one read will reach the supplier due to lack of equipment and also depends on the type of server used to receive reads as some can only handle one read per day.

with regards to above post. if you want a cheaper, more beneficial tariff, try one of the online tariffs. preferably powergen or scottish power, as both these have been running for some time and cover all areas, unlike some of the newer online tariffs available.

Hanoijane

with regards to reading both at the same time... most companies will employ agency staff to read meters and in order to keep costs down they read meters seperately.

Please can you explain how Sco-Po keep their costs down by visiting the same property twice, to do a job that could have been done on the same visit?

Rover

Been a Scottish power on-line dual fuel customer for ~18 months. Been very satisfied with them - consistently in the top 3 suppliers for my consumption.

A few problems assessing on-line account, but otherwise OK.

Currently in the process of switching to an on-line dual fuel account with Powergen to save a projected £50 annually.

PS. I'm not 100% on this, but I believe Scottish Powers' recently anounced price rises DO NOT apply to on-line tariff customers. Presumably as they are the most canny and most likely to switch ;D

loon_2

the recent price rise does not affect online customers, but the online price increased between 3.5% and 13.5% last month.

chateau42

Just check your annual average, or latest, Kws consumption against the latest price per kw and, wow, your cost. IGNORE salesmen and other conmen. ::) ::)

seahorsejockey

recently changed supplier from SWEB (property developer assigned) to SP on firstly elec then gas. in the hope that i would receive the promised 10 pound for changing, twice. no such luck in fact i havent received one yet. never mind. i only chose SP because it was the 'cheapest'.

electricity was pretty much straightforward; the date of new supply was correct etc.
gas was/is still ongoing. apparently my gas pipes were not supplied by transco, and it was proving difficult to gather all of the required info from SWEB.

it seems to me that with all the messing around coupled with all these new price hikes it isnt really worth the hassle, especially as the saving will only really be a few quid a year. so much so i may invent my own website; TimeSavingExpert.com with the first thread telling people to not bother changing gas/elec suppliers.

we shall see.

chateau42

As times go by, you could be right, who knows. ;D

mike_the_bike_2

Like I suppose the vast majority of posters I really don't give a toss who supplies my Gas and Electricity as long as it is an uninterrupted supply (as much as possible) AND THEY ARE THE CHEAPEST!

I switched to dual on line with Scottish Power 6 months ago and I have to profess either I've been lucky or the only folk that post on here about Scottish Power are those that have problems (the satisfied customers don't post)....Anyway with all this Price Hike malarky I'm wondering if they are still the cheapest but quite frankly now I'm with them unless its a big saving to be had can't be bothered to switch again...not coz i'm flush with money but all the switching direct debit hassle and potential for cockups