MSE News: Warning for Scottish Power customers on fixed rate deals

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE news story:

"Scottish Power is automatically locking customers on its popular fixed rate deal that ends this month onto an expensive capped tariff with high exit fees for those who want out.

A high-spending household could be £270 a year worse off by lapsing onto the new deals ..."

Read the full story:
Warning for Scottish Power customers on fixed rate deals

withabix

Naughty Scottish Power.

I'm OK until 2011 fortunately!

apemyr

Hi,
I'm on a fixed energy tariff with Scottish Power which finished 31-Aug-09
I asked them if it was OK to instigate a switch to another supplier.
Apparently if the just get notice from a new supplier before 31-Aug that I intend to switch they'll charge me £30
Seems excessive (is this even legal) since it will take at least 4 weeks before the switch over is complete!

This is the amil I got from SP:

"Your fixed energy tariff has a termination fee of £30 if we receive notice of you changing supplier before the 31/08/09."

Cheers

Plushchris

apemyr wrote: »

Hi,
I'm on a fixed energy tariff with Scottish Power which finished 31-Aug-09
I asked them if it was OK to instigate a switch to another supplier.
Apparently if the just get notice from a new supplier before 31-Aug that I intend to switch they'll charge me £30
Seems excessive (is this even legal) since it will take at least 4 weeks before the switch over is complete!

This is the amil I got from SP:

"Your fixed energy tariff has a termination fee of £30 if we receive notice of you changing supplier before the 31/08/09."

Cheers

Which completely goes against what the Scottish power rep said in the other thread.

Scottish power should really get their act together and decide if people will or wont get hit with the cancelation fee if the instigate the switch before the 31st.

Thats what I hate about energy companies, why cant the people you speak to give you the same answers, depends who you speak to as to what answer you get :rolleyes:

dh05

The email from SP did give a link offering the facility to decline the move to the new fixed tarriff with a link:
"I want to opt out of Capped Price Energy September 2010"

I will be taking them up on the offer and opting out!

tiamaria

Last year I went on the Fixed Price Energy 2009 deal & unless I let SP know differently i will be moved on to the Capped Price Energy September 2010.

Martin's blog says the average customer will be paying about £150 more if they go on this. However, I'm paying £50 a month less with SP than what I was paying with my previous provider so i'm £600 a year better off with them so even an extra £150 means I've still gained £450!

Unsure whether to stay with them or not now

oakhouse13

I have only switched once ever. I was with British Gas on an old capped tariff that ended in April and all customers on that tariff were moved onto another long capped deal unless you asked for something else, which I did. I stayed with British Gas, after a few weeks on standard tariffs I moved to Web Saver 3 which lasts until December. I won't switch again before then as I have agreed a service. I did not use a price comparison service. I do not trust them, it means I have two businesses misleading me, one on commission which I would prefer went towards lowering the price for everyone. If you are switching a lot and taking out wine, cashback and promotions each time that is adding cost born by more vulnerable customers. Figures from Ofgem on churning in the market show commission has escalated to a plus £400 million market. Moneysupermarket was able to reverse a profits warning last year on the amount it earned from utility switches and the millions of consumers switching on what they were told were two forthcoming price rises are paying for that windfall. I want all the money being paid to price comparison sites off the standard price of energy for everyone. Scottish Power is doing the same, moving customers onto an expensive tariff and I would expect the same logic for all suppliers. To have a competitive price I should not have to switch, I should be able to understand the price I am paying, easily compare those prices myself to other suppliers.Ofgem seems to be alone in driving towards this goal, everyone else I don't trsut, they are all on commission and not going to put themselves out of business by supporting consumers having transparent pricing they can compare for themselves.

dh05

oakhouse13 wrote: »

............... Scottish Power is doing the same, moving customers onto an expensive tariff

I don't know if I am being especially obtuse but Scottish Power are proposing to move existing customers on to the new tariff UNLESS they decline the offer. This can be done simply by clicking the link in their email as I suggested in my message above.

Why not decline the offer, avoiding future cancellation penalties, and look around for a cheaper tariff? If nothing better can be found (unlikely) a new application can be made to go onto the the capped tariff which will probably be available for some time.

Supernova

The precise wording of the email is:

'If you don't want to protect your prices and would prefer to move to our standard monthly Direct Debit prices please tell us before 30th September 2009.'

The link gives only that option.

What are the Direct Debit prices and are there any penalties for ditching that?

cw18

Other than the 12 month 'tie in', I'm confused as to why this is such a bad deal (and yes, I'm impacted by this - and with income that means I can't afford to take a chance with fuel costs)

As best I can tell by checking the tarrif rates they sent a link to in the email against their current variable rate, these are identical. I've been with SP for over 7 years now, and they've been great when I've had issues/concerns. On running a comparison based on my useage in the last 12 month I only get a couple that 'quote' lower figures - and it's not much..... certainly not enough to make me want to switch suppliers.

So, assuming I don't want to leave the company just now, surely the only gamble I'm taking is that another company (which is one I'm happy to deal with) doesn't offer a capped deal at a significantly lower rate within the next 12 months


Supernova - the 'standard' direct debit prices depend on the area of the county you live in, whether you fully operate your account on-line, and whether you pay a standing charge or not. You can get to them from the SP home page, but like I said - for me it appears to be identical to the capped rate they're offering me anyway...... If you're on the standard variable direct debit prices, then there's no cancellation penalty that I can see (nor would I expect there to be)

duggo1

Is it just me, or does the Scottish Power Official Rep seem to be noticably absent from this board at the moment, when we are all trying to get clarification on the terms of this exit fee?