Unbelievable price increases from Scottish Power

pinkpauline34

I pay by monthly DD for Gas & Electricity through Scottish Power. My DD was fixed at £65 pm - they have written to me today to say from 22 June, my DD will increase to £96 pm! I can afford £65 but not £96 pm.

I have used a couple of switching websites and it appears that London Energy will be able to save me money - I've never heard of them and before I go ahead and switch, I'd be grateful if anyone could tell me if they've any experience with them? I moved from British Gas to Scottish Power last November and the switch itself was a complete nightmare which I'm not relishing going through again.

I know my gas usage is high as my Mother who lives with me is disabled and needs to be kept warm for medical reasons.

Any help would be much appreciated.

irnbru_2

pinkpauline34 wrote:

Any help would be much appreciated.

Have you applied for any insulation grants?
Or any allowances on behalf of your mother?

Can you work out what your usage is and see if that increase is fair? Plenty of have renegotiated the increase to something thats more in line with their usage.

deanos

Maybe you havent been paying enough and owe them money and withthe recent price rises costs have goten more expensive so it may need to rise because of that or a combination of both

j-baby-scotland

I changed to London Energy (on-line tariff) for dual fuel at the start of the year.

No problems with the switch at all & at present I'm just keeping an eye on meter readings so no possibility of underpaying without realising.

greyster

We were paying £15.50 for Gas and £23 for Electric [British Gas]. It then rose to £41 and £45 and then when we closed, they asked for £115.47 for Gas and £144 for electric. I share this with two students and needless to say they were shocked with the price rises.

pinkpauline34

Thanks for your replies. To answer IrnBru, we have had insulation put in which has made some difference. My boiler is 25+ years old so I know it's not energy efficient by any means. We don't qualify for a grant from the Scottish Executive to have a new boiler installed as the property is owned by me and Mum is my lodger! It's not within my means to upgrade the boiler, as much as I'd like to.

I have only been with Scottish Power since November so I don't imagine I've racked up an enormous bill, especially as I've been paying £65 pm. Mind you, my meters have never been read since I switched! What confuses me most is they say my account is in £25 CR - obviously this will be an estimate as they haven't read my meters. I didn't rate their customer service when I was switching so I don't know if it's worth trying to negotiate with them.

I knew price increases would hit everyone but I had no idea by how much!

royalsteve

pinkpauline34 wrote:

I pay by monthly DD for Gas & Electricity through Scottish Power. My DD was fixed at £65 pm - they have written to me today to say from 22 June, my DD will increase to £96 pm! I can afford £65 but not £96 pm.

I have used a couple of switching websites and it appears that London Energy will be able to save me money - I've never heard of them and before I go ahead and switch, I'd be grateful if anyone could tell me if they've any experience with them? I moved from British Gas to Scottish Power last November and the switch itself was a complete nightmare which I'm not relishing going through again.

I know my gas usage is high as my Mother who lives with me is disabled and needs to be kept warm for medical reasons.

Any help would be much appreciated.

yep ours has gone up from £36/month to £75/mth in 6 years...most of this in the last 2 years.

pinkpauline34

I have taken Irn Bru's advice and contacted Scottish Power to negotiate my DD payments. I gave them my meter readings (being that they've never been read) and it appears that I currently owe £151 for gas & electricity, obviously bearing in mind that this is the period from November - May.

I have negotiated a monthly payment of £79.00 which is quite a saving from £96!

Thanks again for your help - it's most appreciated.

irnbru_2

pinkpauline34 wrote:

We don't qualify for a grant from the Scottish Executive to have a new boiler installed as the property is owned by me and Mum is my lodger!

If she's permanently resident with you then maybe talk to the CAB about grants.

And depending on her age, then Age-Concern might be worth speaking with too.

pinkpauline34

I'll look into both of these options - many thanks.

dippy-dora_2

Not knowing how old your mam is but would she not be entitled to a cold weather payment?