Scottish Power - another increase in my direct debit

judderman

mothershipton wrote: »

ive just had an email saying my dd is going up to £88 from £76 from March. Sent a reply requesting they dont change it as Im in credit and we are now going into a warmer period( hopefully). Waiting to hear back. Im on a fixed price plan and have been using less elec and gas than last year so fingers crossed. If they dont agree, Im going onto paying quarterly.

I ended up sending an email saying not to up my DD.
This is the reply.

Dear Mr Judderman.

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

The breakdown of your consumption over the last 12 months is as follows:

Current Service Package: Online Energy Saver 4 Dual Fuel

Electricity 900 kwh x Primary Unit price 14.930p £134.37
Electricity 1464 kwh x Secondary Unit price 7.878p £115.3

Total £249.67

Gas 4572 kwh x Primary Rate price 4.52p £206.65
Gas 3603 kwh x Secondary Rate price 3.592p £129.43

Total £336.08

Total Electric and Gas Cost £585.75
5% VAT £29.29
Current Credit Balance £52.63
Discounts £26.33
Total Cost £641.34

Dividing this total by 12 months shows your Direct Debit should be set at £53.44.

Your direct debit has been set to £53.50 per month to reflect the above calculations. This amount will continue/begin being deducted from your bank from 14/03/09

HTH

blisteringblue

This is all getting rediculous, we were on a capped rate from a couple of years ago that ended in October so I just left it on the online fixed price rate?

Just put my readings in today and between November and now my bill is over £700 !! Even !!!!!! Turpin would be embarrassed with those charges.

I've gone from £400 in credit to owing the thieving t:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:s £300.

Well at least I owe them money now and it's time for a u-switch anyway.

KimYeovil

blisteringblue wrote: »

This is all getting rediculous, we were on a capped rate from a couple of years ago that ended in October so I just left it on the online fixed price rate?

Just put my readings in today and between November and now my bill is over £700 !! Even !!!!!! Turpin would be embarrassed with those charges.

I've gone from £400 in credit to owing the thieving t:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:s £300.

Well at least I owe them money now and it's time for a u-switch anyway.

Any chance of you reposting this every time some weirdo complains and cries about their direct debit being increased even though they're 27p in credit?

blisteringblue

KimYeovil wrote: »

Any chance of you reposting this every time some weirdo complains and cries about their direct debit being increased even though they're 27p in credit?

Thanks for the concern !! Thanks for pointing out I'm just moaning for the sake of it. £700 for one quarter !!

If that makes me a weirdo then so be it.

Get a life

KimYeovil

blisteringblue wrote: »

Thanks for the concern !! Thanks for pointing out I'm just moaning for the sake of it. £700 for one quarter !!

If that makes me a weirdo then so be it.

Get a life

Please re-read what I wrote. I did not refer to you as a weirdo.

Magentasue

blisteringblue wrote: »

Thanks for the concern !! Thanks for pointing out I'm just moaning for the sake of it. £700 for one quarter !!

If that makes me a weirdo then so be it.

Get a life

Yes, a bit harsh but pointing out that you need a credit balance to offset winter use. My brother got a letter from SP saying they were putting him on a fixed price tariff unless he opted out, and, although I can't remember the details, it was very expensive compared to the SP tariff I'm on.

blisteringblue

Sorry if I got the wrong end of the stick, I though I was the weirdo.

Anyway I've voted with my feet and quidco'd to E-on extra saver 12. May or may not be the right move, but u-switch tell me it is £240 a year cheaper with my current accurate annual kw/h figures, I get Tesco Points (we holiday via them every year) and the £62 from quidco goes some way towards the £300 I now owe to Scottish "Mega sneaky we'll put you on Fixed for Free !!!!!! Turpin Tarif" Power.

KimYeovil

And I thought I was being restrained in referring to them as 'weirdos'. [STRIKE]Certainly politer than 'conniving weasels' or 'deficients', which were my first thoughts.[/STRIKE] I just meant to highlight that you were £400 in credit but still ended up £300 short over winter whereas there are lots of posters who think they should be refunded or not have their debits increased when they are only £40 in credit.

I don't have a problem with people changing their debits or paying for only what they have used. I have a problem with suppliers overcharging cash payers who pay promptly and giving this money unjustly to direct debit payers who are not due a discount. As I have never seen anyone post here complaining that their direct debit discount has been stopped after their micromanagement I can only conclude that the suppliers are not being fair. (But I do understand the commercial reasons why it would be foolish for them to play fair.)

blisteringblue

I see your point now other people complain that a low credit balance should mean they should not be prone to any rise in DD.

However mine is a lot of SPs doings in working it out incorrectly. I was on a really good capped rate so they should actually have told me it was going to end a couple of months before it did (even an e-mail would have done) and increase my DD accordingly. In the end they did increase it by £30 after it ended but this was nowhere near the extra 50% I am being charged for the fuel.

I don't have a problem paying for what I use but a swing of £700 a quarter should have been better managed by SP.

Anyway like I said before, I'm off to E-on so out of one frying pan and into another

mothershipton

i assume you are calling me a weirdo... if you think that making sure im paying the right amount of money to sp makes me a weirdo then fine. I understand that i should be in credit in the summer and then this will cover me for the winter, Im not that thick. I just dont see why sp should have more of my money upfront than necessary.

FYI I had an email upping it to £80 so happy with that



What point Kimyeovil is trying to make here, I dont know "I don't have a problem with people changing their debits or paying for only what they have used. I have a problem with suppliers overcharging cash payers who pay promptly and giving this money unjustly to direct debit payers who are not due a discount. As I have never seen anyone post here complaining that their direct debit discount has been stopped after their micromanagement I can only conclude that the suppliers are not being fair. (But I do understand the commercial reasons why it would be foolish for them to play fair.)"

as blisteringblue says get a life