Do quarterly bills still exist?

JCB2020

I moved to Ebico with qtly dd billing. Scotish Power kept hiking my monthly dd until it got far beyond my anual usage. So I moved after dong a tarriff serach using one of the internet sites - simple.

SwanJon

frugallass wrote: »

we do not believe in paying these people for something which we haven't yet used

frugallass wrote: »

I do object to paying for something I haven't used.

Does that argument work at the supermarket ("but I haven't eaten it yet, why should I pay now?"), or pretty much any other shop?
On a quarterly bill you use electricity & gas for 3 months, then they give you another month or so to pay it.
If you paid monthly (even without DD) it would be closer to paying for it as you use it (you are using electricity now - when will you pay for it?

From a money saving point of view, the best deals are usually online with DD - by regularly enerting readings (phone/post/website etc) you will ensure that your payments are accurate.

1carminestocky

SwanJon wrote: »

Does that argument work at the supermarket ("but I haven't eaten it yet, why should I pay now?"), or pretty much any other shop?
On a quarterly bill you use electricity & gas for 3 months, then they give you another month or so to pay it.
If you paid monthly (even without DD) it would be closer to paying for it as you use it (you are using electricity now - when will you pay for it?

From a money saving point of view, the best deals are usually online with DD - by regularly enerting readings (phone/post/website etc) you will ensure that your payments are accurate.

I'm surprised at you, SJ. It's a poor analogy. How many people would be willing to pay their supermarket a set amount each month (regardless of what they had just bought and solely set by the supermarket) based on their projected yearly spend?

SwanJon

Ok, maybe extreme, but what supermarket would give you the option of shopping for 3 months before expecting you to pay a bill? and even then sometimes on a guess?
Paying monthly is rarely* going to be paying before it is used anyway - we are all using electricity all the time, so why should they not ask to be paid more frequently?
Sp are making a big push fo rtheir customers to move away from quarterly (i've heard) and this seems to be the end result.

* at least until recently when some suppliers moved to the zero in spring model.

Cardew

SwanJon wrote: »

Ok, maybe extreme, but what supermarket would give you the option of shopping for 3 months before expecting you to pay a bill? .

The 'Knightsbridge supermarket' Harrods offers such terms to one's staff.

Premier_2

KimYeovil wrote: »

Is the convenience of quarterly bills really worth the 25%-odd price premium?

(The change by Scottish Power is a new policy, nothing to do with your status.)

I know people who still get billed & pay quarterly by Scottish Power.

25% premium for doing so you suggest? Well I just did a comparison using energyhelpline.com using the following data:

Region: Eastern
electricity: 2828kWh p.a. (20% at E7)
gas: 8782 kWh p.a.

Best deal in all cases is payment quarterly (albeit by DD, it's an online account)
Payment monthly by DD is £3 more for dual fuel (online energy saver 6)

If you just look at their Standard tariff, quarterly (by DD) is £73 per year cheaper than paying monthly by DD.

I suggest the reason Scottish Power wont allow the OP credit to pay quarterly is (partly) this:

frugallass wrote:

...we're totally ignoring their letters...

frugallass

SwanJon wrote: »

Does that argument work at the supermarket ("but I haven't eaten it yet, why should I pay now?"), or pretty much any other shop?

On a quarterly bill you use electricity & gas for 3 months, then they give you another month or so to pay it.

If you paid monthly (even without DD) it would be closer to paying for it as you use it (you are using electricity now - when will you pay for it?

No, but the Post Office manage to bill me on a monthly basis for my broadband / telephone calls

They don't allow you a month to pay quarterly bills anymore, reminders usually come in quite quickly

I'm happy paying for the power on a monthly basis, based on the actual meter readings but not a pre-defined sum (which they can change at will)

frugallass

Premier wrote: »

I suggest the reason Scottish Power wont allow the OP credit to pay quarterly is (partly) this:

The letters we are ignoring at the ones stating that our monthly payment is due.

At our previous address SP had no problems issuing us with quarterly bills but now we have moved we never even got the option (although we did request this on the form we completed when we moved) the letters started coming in every month stating that our agreed monthly payment was due. We received a bill of £72 after two months and paid it promptly, so I don't understand why they won't give us the option of paying upon receipt of a bill (monthly or quarterly, I'm not fussed).

Cardew

frugallass wrote: »

The letters we are ignoring at the ones stating that our monthly payment is due.

At our previous address SP had no problems issuing us with quarterly bills but now we have moved we never even got the option (although we did request this on the form we completed when we moved) the letters started coming in every month stating that our agreed monthly payment was due. We received a bill of £72 after two months and paid it promptly, so I don't understand why they won't give us the option of paying upon receipt of a bill (monthly or quarterly, I'm not fussed).

They have multi-million computers programed to send out bills quarterly. The cost to set up a bespoke monthly billing system for those customers who want such a scheme would be huge.

It would appear that they have made a commercial decision not to grant you 3 months credit. That is their decision, as it would be your decision to leave the company.

I cannot understand why you object to them increasing the amount they want from £40 to £43.50. You only moved in in May and it is their calculation that £40 is not sufficient.

frugallass

Cardew wrote: »

I cannot understand why you object to them increasing the amount they want from £40 to £43.50. You only moved in in May and it is their calculation that £40 is not sufficient.

I don't give a hoot what their calculation is - I just don't want to agree to pay a set amount per month - I want to pay for the power I have used, nothing more, nothing less

I just wondered why the option was taken away from us when it was perfectly acceptable at our previous address