New money saver questions - uswitch/energyhelpline results - Scottish Power

right2reply

have we all gone mad?? why give scottishpower £700 up front ever... save he money yourself as they will just get the intrest for themselves,

patrick, whichever company you go with the following information applies.

1//
there is no real financial gain/loss between standing charge and no standing charge. stading charge simply means that everyday you pay (eg) 12p whethere your there or not and any elec/gas you use is charged at 1 flat rate (eg) 8p per unit... your bill will be worked out as number days x 12p and number units used (eg 500kwh) x 8p
NSC.. is based quarterly so its based on 3 monthly usage. (eg elec) day rate 14p and night rate 5p.. they work out your usage through your meter to what time you used it (generally 7am-11pm is day rate hours but this changes depending on your "host supplier")...trust me though no difference in real cost...and do standing charge...its easier to work out and keep your eye on till you get the hang of it.

2// get an internet online package and set by direct debit..(its cheaper but here is the real challenge...you need to work out how much you'll honestly use in a year...if need be dig out old bills...reason for this is that the dd will be set at a brilliant cost...hen come summer your paying the real cost and your dd will go up (prob double) bet bet is to set your dd higher that it would be (and higher than the company say) so you dont get hit with an increase...(which they will try anyway) later in the year.

3// the only tie in period with each company if for 28days its a rolling contract and just auto renews unless you say otherwise. ask if there is any leaving penalties if you choose to leave early.

hope this makes sense, (to everyone) worked for scottishpower for years..(in the complaints department, so i do really know it from both sides)

if your still stuck just ask and ill try my best to help.

neil9313

Bobjob wrote: »

Personally I think you would be crazy to pay in advance. This is like the biggest direct debit overpayment ever. What will happen is that, as they do with DD, they will decide your annual payment is actually not enough and will ask for more money, wiping out your saving. Their customer service is very very poor, especially on internet tariffs when they take 24-48 hours to reply each time. ScottishPower is simply not trustworthy enough to hand them that kind of money in advance.

Been with SP for 9 years, I cant fault them.

Premier_2

right2reply wrote: »

have we all gone mad?? why give scottishpower £700 up front ever... save he money yourself as they will just get the intrest for themselves,...

Where can you get an account paying 5% today?

right2reply wrote: »

there is no real financial gain/loss between standing charge and no standing charge...

Unless you don't consume all the tier 1 units (which is quite common for gas during the summer), in which case you'll pay more for the comparative standing charge tariff from the same supplier.

KimYeovil

And in addition to Premier's second point it is not true that a standing charge tariff is any easier to work out than a two-tier tariff.

pjblink

Really interesting information, it's exactly what i needed to hear - all the questions i asked answered.

I think i really need to get a good idea of how much we're using summer AND winter. We've lived in our own place for just over a year now, but that's over three properties, one with economy 7 (all electric), one with a gas oven and now one with an electric oven.

For this reason, i've gone with ebico and paying quarterly by debit card. This way, i know exactly what we're using, and, although we won't be getting any buffer zone or discount for payin by direct debit, the bills should be extremely clear.

I switched our account (still on EON) just 3 or 4 weeks ago to our new property, but applied for a switch to ebico just under a week ago. We'll see what EON say, if i have to hold out for a month or whether i'll get fined or whatever.

I'll also get to see just how accurate my energy meter is