Scottishpower reclaiming credit amount

MightyMythop

I contacted Scottishpower about 3 weeks ago as I was nearly £200 in credit on my account. I asked for a cheque back and this was received about a week later.

However, I've now had a direct debit collected from my account which is £42 more than previously - this despite having a £NIL balance and having previously overpaid!

I called Scottishpower today and they said that unless I returned the £200 then my monthly amount will remain the same. Personally I cannot see how they can justify this despite the usual excuses of paying more over Winter and the bill being adjusted in the Summer months due to less energy being used.

Needless to say I'll be scouring the comparison websites but wonder whether anyone else on here has had similar problems and can recommend any other way of ensuring I both keep the £200 and reducing the normal monthly premium?

FYI I previously paid £126pm and now have just paid £167 in January! A small fortune for a standard 3 bed semi with 2 adults and a young child!

Magentasue

The idea is that you have a zero balance in the spring and build up credit for the winter. If you want a zero balance now, you have to pay more monthly to stay at zero for the next three months or so.

KimYeovil

The original post must be a joke! Yes?

Magentasue

I do sometimes fail to see that people are on a wind-up, so maybe it was a joke. However, so many people seem to struggle to understand how the system works with fixed DDs, I took it as a genuine question.:rolleyes:

KimYeovil

To square this circle:

MightyMythop wrote: »

Needless to say I'll be scouring the comparison websites but wonder whether anyone else on here has had similar problems and can recommend any other way of ensuring I both keep the £200 and reducing the normal monthly premium?

you'll have to switch to quarterly billing or standing order. Discounts, however, will be much lower than with direct debits.

MightyMythop

I assure you this is a serious post and was a genuine question!!

KimYeovil

I am at a loss to understand this paragraph:
Needless to say I'll be scouring the comparison websites but wonder whether anyone else on here has had similar problems and can recommend any other way of ensuring I both keep the £200 and reducing the normal monthly premium?
How can you expect to both keep the credit and reduce the payments?

MightyMythop

I just assumed...probably incorrectly, that by overpaying previously that ScotPower would not need to increase my payments as I'll again by in credit come Summer time. At least Not by circa £40 pm anyway, a fiver or so I can appreciate given the extra usage over Winter.

Am I starting to make sense or shall I just stop here?

Magentasue

MightyMythop wrote: »

I just assumed...probably incorrectly, that by overpaying previously that ScotPower would not need to increase my payments as I'll again by in credit come Summer time. At least Not by circa £40 pm anyway, a fiver or so I can appreciate given the extra usage over Winter.

Am I starting to make sense or shall I just stop here?

Thing is Jan, Feb and Mar are usually more expensive than Apr onwards. So the £200 you asked for would cover those cold months leaving you at zero in April. If you had a credit balance in March, it'd be reasonable to ask for a refund then. You could look at how many kwh you'd used in a year, cost it and divide by 12.

Or as said, ditch DD and pay on receipt of bill. That way you keep the credit. You lose any DD discount and need to put by the right amount for the bill but don't have to pay the DD.

If you start at zero in Dec/Jan, you will need to pay inflated DDs to get you through the rest of the winter. You can't have it both ways.

JulieM

£167 per month does seem a lot, we pay £106 for 2 adults in a modern 4 bed detached, and we could probably bring that down if we tried. However, we do have a new boiler, double glazing, cavity wall and loft insulation so this helps keep costs down.

Magentasue

JulieM wrote: »

£167 per month does seem a lot, we pay £106 for 2 adults in a modern 4 bed detached, and we could probably bring that down if we tried. However, we do have a new boiler, double glazing, cavity wall and loft insulation so this helps keep costs down.

But that £167 is because there is no credit balance.