Beware of Scottish Power doubling direct debit on it's fixed rate 2011 dual fuel rate

ddodgeman

Just a quick warning to all those money savers like me who jumped ship & switched suppliers 3 months ago to scottish power before they pulled the plug on their fixed rate till 2011 for dual fuel.

Despite the fact I should now have peace of mind that I will not pay any more for fuel unless of course my usage increases I received the following letter from Scottish Power

" We check your account every 3 months to ensure your direct debit payments closely match your useage. This also takes into account any recent changes to your unit prices.

This review shows that your current payments are not sufficient to cover your ongoing use. To avoid any underpayment on your account, we have revised your monthly direct debit to £77.50.

Before I was paying £35 per month, so at a stroke they doubled my bill which was taken from my account the day after I received the letter.

I work away from home a lot & own a small flat I am therefore an extremely low user of energy.

Knowing that my energy usage has not changed at all in the last 3 months & that scottish power has based this new price on an estimate I rang to complain.

I told them I thought this was a sneaky way of reneging on their fixed price deal as only on the back of the bill can you see buried in the figures "e" for estimate & the tone of the letter implies that they have based the price rise on actual figures. There is even a section that asks can your payments go up when your account is in credit? and answers by saying Yes, this is perfectly normal.

The operative was pretty unconvincing when I asked how they arrived at a figure of more than double what I was paying previously. I also objected to the fact that by the time I got the letter they had already taken the cash.

On giving my actual readings I was found to have used even less energy than I originally calculated & so now have a direct debit set for £30 a month and a credit of £45.

Of course I don't mind paying more if and only if my useage increases.

This sharp practise is why I dislike direct debits although I use them as they are invariably the only means of payment for the better deals. My old supplier EDF though used to send an estimate out a week before the bill via e mail and you simply emailed back with the actual figure and they then adjusted the bill accordingly which is a much fairer system.

I am annoyed with scottish power as this is a pretty obvious method of getting more money out of their customers who may not all realise that this rise is not mandatory and may not get to the bottom of it by ringing them up.

I signed up to scottish power to avoid getting ripped off by the energy companies and be able to relax knowing I am not subject to prices rises; but even with a fixed deal it shows that you still have to be vigilant against being screwed for more cash.

I imagine they have rolled these letters out across the board so thought I would sound a note of warning to any one in the same position.

Has any one else on the board had a similar experience?

:beer:

lordgaz

I have the same problem. When I changed from EDF to Scottish Power, my DD went from £47 a month to £54 a month (even though the electricity was cheaper and my usage is uniform) - I could live with that, but now I have received an email saying my DD will rise to £95 a month!
My account is in credit (meaning i overpay already).

What excuse/explanation did they give you? What did you say to make them lower your DD?

I just tried to call Scottish Power Customer Services, but the recorded message said they were dealing with high volume of calls and then cut me off!

Must be a few others in our position.

Premier_2

Your account should be in credit at this time of year in order to pay for the heavy load you are expected to use during the cold, dark winter period.

To the OP who thinks they can survive on £420 p.a. total for both gas & electricity, are Scottish Power aware that you leave the property empty & unheated for a substantial period? They are not mind readers.

Presumably the reason you are not there often is the reason that SP had already taken the cash by the time you got the letter.
Under DD rules, the supplier is required to provide 10 working days notice (plus postal time), unless less notice has been agreed with you beforehand, before applying any amended payment. Of course, if you are not at the address which you provided SP with to sent such notices to, they cannot be held responsible for your delay in reading them.

geranium72

I have had exactly the same thing with EDF actually and I suspect most suppliers do this

The point here is that when you get your bill you should never leave it as an estimate you should always update it with your readings accurately.

If you get a letter when you are in credit then you need to ring straight away and state that you do not agree to pay extra, that they should return the DD to the level it was and that you want any overpayment back.

I have never had any problem when this has happened to me once I have rung with correct readings and objected to the increase they always agree. In addition if you are in credit you can request an immediate refund back to your bank account

In fact the fact that with Scottish Power you can give online readings if you do that tariff makes this less likely to happen

Ring again lordgaz - perhaps try a less busy time?

Edited to add - totally agree as per above post that you do go into credit over the summer to pay for the winter but if you are significantly in credit and need the money now and know you can find the extra later for the winter then get the money back

bristolleedsfan

Premier wrote: »

To the OP who thinks they can survive on £420 p.a. total for both gas & electricity, are Scottish Power aware that you leave the property empty & unheated for a substantial period? They are not mind readers.

I "survive" on 420.00 p.a. total for both gas and electricity without leaving the property empty.

lordgaz

Just received this email -

Thank you for your recent email regarding your Direct Debit increase.

When calculating your new Direct Debit instalment value the following factors are taken into consideration: -

· Current unit price
· Changes to service package e.g. end of a fixed price product
· Service package discounts
· Current account balance
· Amount of energy used in the last 12 months
· Forecast energy usage based on your historical annual consumption

Based on the above, the Direct Debit increase is necessary.


My consumption has not changed and I was fine with my previous supplier at £47 a month.. and my electricity is cheaper now -


What can I do?

Premier_2

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

I "survive" on 420.00 p.a. total for both gas and electricity without leaving the property empty.

According to your post last July, you said

bristolleedsfan wrote:

My consumption is approx 400.00 a year electric and 10.00 a year gas. ( im a believer in dressing for the winter weather. :cool: )

Energyhelpline.com tells me cheapest capped/price freeze tariffs would be 75.00/95.00 a year more than im paying atm...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=12809265&postcount=3

So even you, despite you 'dressing for winter' and 'fill a large flask to avoid reboiling the kettle' (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=13089943&postcount=3) would get a bill from SP on their fixed rate tariff that low.

Be aware that as you are not on a fixed tariff, the price of electricity has increased since you made your post in July, so expect a higher bill this year (unless you decide to live by candlelight from now on! )

Premier_2

lordgaz wrote: »

Just received this email -

Thank you for your recent email regarding your Direct Debit increase.

When calculating your new Direct Debit instalment value the following factors are taken into consideration: -

· Current unit price
· Changes to service package e.g. end of a fixed price product
· Service package discounts
· Current account balance
· Amount of energy used in the last 12 months
· Forecast energy usage based on your historical annual consumption

Based on the above, the Direct Debit increase is necessary.


My consumption has not changed and I was fine with my previous supplier at £47 a month.. and my electricity is cheaper now -


What can I do?

Scottish Power claim that they review accounts paid for monthly via DD every 12 months. If at the end of that 12 month period your account is in credit they say they will refund you that credit and adjust your monthly payments accordingly.

Unfortunately, when you agree to pay monthly via DD, you agree to the supplier making reasonable estimations based on the factors given to you in the email. If you don't want to pay the amount they calculate you need to pay (and can't negotiaite an alternative amount), your only option is to remove yourself from that form of payment plan.

maemaesmummy

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

I "survive" on 420.00 p.a. total for both gas and electricity without leaving the property empty.

OMG I need lessons from you... I pay £173 pm..

lordgaz

ok, I finally got through to Scottish Power (incidentally, their telephone system is set up to ensure redialling is laborious as you must keep entering your A/C number and pass automated spoken security before you even get chance to be cut off

The man I spoke to said first that the new payment of £95 looked like it was wrong and then asked to call me back.

When he called me back (after speaking with his supervisor) he said that the new figure was based on my historical energy consumption obtained from my previous supplier - (which has been reducing year on year) - and that they reveiw consumption every 3 months.

They offered to raise my payments to £62 a month instead of £95 which i accepted because they said they would review it again in 3 months - I figured that paying a little more now may ensure that my next increase isn't something even more ridiculous...

Off to turn off all the lights now.:D

pokey15

Yeah ive had exactly the same problem.
My D/D was for £18 then all of a sudden £88 is taken from my a/c.
I kicked up merry hell citing the Direct Debit agreement saying you didnt give me 10 days notice.They refunded it but obviously then told me my D/D was going up to £ 88.
I live in a two bed flat on my own and rarely have the heating on, there is no way my D/D should be that fiqure.My a/c is obviously in credit .
In the process of changing to E-On hopefully they are not as bad