Bill trouble with Scottish Power - any help please!

collingbone614

Hello,

I would really like some help with analysing my gas/elec bill before I contact Scot Power to talk about this. I having a DD of £162 a month, which is ridiculous. I live in a 3 bedroom semi with my brother and we barely use the heating, probably average electric - the neighbours pay £60 a month. I am not good at bills and I think it may be because Scot Power didn't bill us enough for the first few months. However I want to seek any advice about this before contacting them.. anyone have any suggestions?

Current balance £86.41 in debit at 08/06/10

If you have made payments since the date of your last bill, please provide your current meter readings to show an accurate and up to date balance on your account.

DateBills / ChargesPayments / Balance
07/06/10 / £74.54 (actual) / £86.41 in Debit
01/06/10 / £162.00 /£11.87 in Debit
04/05/10 / £162.00 / £173.87 in Debit
25/04/10 / £31.02 (actual) / £335.87 in Debit
11/04/10 / £26.78 (actual) / £304.85 in Debit
01/04/10 / £61.60 (actual) / £278.07 in Debit
01/04/10 / £162.00 / £216.47 in Debit
09/03/10 / £127.42 (actual) / £378.47 in Debit
01/03/10 / £326.05 (actual) / £251.05 in Debit
01/03/10 / (payment) £25.00 / £75.00 in Credit
01/02/10 / (payment) £25.00 / £50.00 in Credit
04/01/10 / (payment) £25.00 / £25.00 in Credit

molerat

The lists above, apart from both being the same, don't really show anything apart from large bills. Give us your figures in kWh or gas units and we will be able to help. From 1 Mar to 9 Mar you used £127 = £16 a day, my max in mid winter was £5 a day combined gas / electric.

Check your gas meter and bills to see if it is metric or imperial (m3 or cu ft) because if you have a metric meter and are being charged at imperial rates your gas bill will be 3x what it should be

collingbone614

Sorry about the double post of the bill contents. I was posting from work in my lunch and was being pressured to hurry up by someone else who wanted to use the internet.

Ok. Please excuse my poor maths skills and lack of understanding around gas and electric consumption. So I looked on my gas meter and it states the reading is in 'ft3' (small three). I went on Scottish Power and it states the following, regarding my gas consumption:

GAS:

Holy jeez, I have just seen this:

Gas (kWh)

Date / Num days / Total / Daily Average
25/04/10 - 06/06/10 / 43 / 221 / 5
11/04/10 - 24/04/10 / 14 / 125 / 9
01/04/10 - 10/04/10 / 10 / 156 / 16
09/03/10 - 31/03/10 / 23 / 567 / 25
10/02/10 - 08/03/10 / 27 / 2780 / 103
30/11/09 - 09/02/10 / 72 / 7298 / 101


Gas as (kWh) - this is measured in units on your meter but paid for by kilowatt hour (kWh). To calculate how many kilowatt hours of gas you have used in each bill, take the number of gas units used (if you have an imperial meter, multiply the figure by 2.83), now multiply the gas units used by the calorific value (39.7) and the correction factor (1.022640), and then divide by 3.6.


I never knew this! I feel very naive. I'll do some sums and see what it means. I just tried to phone Scottish Power to discuss but their office is now closed. I really hope they will give me a rebate once I explain the mistake. I have heard positive things about Scottish Power customer services so I hope they can understand my errors and won't punish me by witholding money - surely other people make the same mistake. Am I getting this all wrong?

collingbone614

I see there is a Scottish Power representative on the board - if you view this I would really appreciate some assistance here.

DVardysShadow

omnirife wrote: »

Sorry about the double post of the bill contents. I was posting from work in my lunch and was being pressured to hurry up by someone else who wanted to use the internet.

Ok. Please excuse my poor maths skills and lack of understanding around gas and electric consumption. So I looked on my gas meter and it states the reading is in 'ft3' (small three). I went on Scottish Power and it states the following, regarding my gas consumption:

GAS:

Holy jeez, I have just seen this:

Gas (kWh)

Date / Num days / Total / Daily Average
25/04/10 - 06/06/10 / 43 / 221 / 5
11/04/10 - 24/04/10 / 14 / 125 / 9
01/04/10 - 10/04/10 / 10 / 156 / 16
09/03/10 - 31/03/10 / 23 / 567 / 25
10/02/10 - 08/03/10 / 27 / 2780 / 103
30/11/09 - 09/02/10 / 72 / 7298 / 101


Gas as (kWh) - this is measured in units on your meter but paid for by kilowatt hour (kWh). To calculate how many kilowatt hours of gas you have used in each bill, take the number of gas units used (if you have an imperial meter, multiply the figure by 2.83), now multiply the gas units used by the calorific value (39.7) and the correction factor (1.022640), and then divide by 3.6.


I never knew this! I feel very naive. I'll do some sums and see what it means. I just tried to phone Scottish Power to discuss but their office is now closed. I really hope they will give me a rebate once I explain the mistake. I have heard positive things about Scottish Power customer services so I hope they can understand my errors and won't punish me by witholding money - surely other people make the same mistake. Am I getting this all wrong?

Thanks for the table This shows where things have gone wrong, hence your exclamation.

But we are nowhere near being able to say what 'the mistake' is yet!!!!!

First of all, you need to get the actual meter readings given on your bills and you need to take the current meter reading. Do you have opening readings you took from when you moved in? It can be an expensive mistake not to take these...

collingbone614

I viewed the online Scottish Power page on which the gas readings are entered. It states 'Meter type: Imperial.'

Regarding the opening readings from when I moved in - I was previously with British Gas and don't recall any particular problems with my bills with them, the bills seemed 'reasonable.' I viewed my emails and on 23rd Nov 09 they emailed me saying I would be switched within 6 days (by 29th). Please note that I have added earlier bill info to my original post so that it adds further detail.

My present gas reading states: 9734.71 ft3.
My present elec states: 03722 (meter type: it is digital and has single phase watt hour written on it)

I can't recall receiving any printed bill from them recently with my readings on it - I seem to receive confirmation of meter readings but these don't have a bill amount attached. I don't recall Scottish Power ever writing to me by post, they emailed me at one point saying they planned to ramp up my DD massively to £162 a month. On that email it provided an email address for me to contact them back to discuss. I emailed back but never received a response. I have viewed my account online and can provide more detail information because on my online account i'm able to access electronic copies of the bill - these have 'start' and 'end' readings.

Here are the emails they've sent with meter readings on there:

Thank you for giving us your meter reading(s) on 09/03/10.

The meter reading(s) you gave us were:

Electricity reading: 02049
Gas reading: 9700.

----

Thank you for giving us your meter reading(s) on 01/04/10.

The meter reading(s) you gave us were:
Electricity reading: 02502
Gas reading: 9718.

---

Thank you for giving us your meter reading(s) on 11/04/10.

The meter reading(s) you gave us were:
Electricity reading: 02729
Gas reading: 9723.

---

Thank you for giving us your meter reading(s) on 25/04/10.

The meter reading(s) you gave us were:
Electricity reading: 03010
Gas reading: 9727.

---

Thank you for giving us your meter reading(s) on 07/06/10.

The meter reading(s) you gave us were:
Electricity reading: 03713
Gas reading: 9734.

--

These are all the emails they've sent regarding meter readings. If you need more details I can try looking on the electronic copy of the actual bills. I really, really appreciate your help with this.

collingbone614

Also, I should add that I add that I had my electric meter changed from an old style one to a new digital one shortly before changing to Scottish Power. This was done 20/10/2009 (there is a card stuck next to the meter).

The meter readings for the one which was removed state: (L) 42285 (N) 74706
The meter readings for the new one, on that date - 00000.

molerat

Those gas figures for Nov - Mar are not unreasonable for gas ch in the coldest winter for many years. On the coldest days I was using around 140 kWh in a day. When did you turn off the CH ? What temperature were you heating the house to ? Did you have it turned on for longer than you think ? If those useage figures are from actual meter reads they follow a pattern, the warmer it gets the less gas you are using. What we need to see is your actual meter reads that cover those periods.

Looking at your figures in post 6, gas has dropped drastically and electric is at around 20 kWh a day, fairly high. Are you using an immersion heater now ? Tumble drier ? What do you cook with ?

collingbone614

Good morning, many thanks for your reply.

I will be able to get the other requisite info posted this evening.

For the mean time, here are answers to the other questions:

We do have a tumble drier but use it fairly infrequently - it gets used for maybe 30 - 40 minutes occassionally, perhaps once a fortnight.

The gas - I had a heated debate with my brother because he and his girlfriend were very gungho in using the gas in winter. On one day he ran the gas fire for about twelve hours straight, when I wasn't there, along with also, possibly, the central heating system. There is a radiator in all rooms. In general I think we did overuse the heating during the cold winter. We have since bought an electric oil radiator so that we can just heat the single room that we are sitting in, without having to put on central heating so it heats the hole house including unused rooms.

Our gas boiler for the central heating is an old style 'tank' system - the kind that has a storage tank for the hot water. The tank is filled by the boiler with hot water for 20 - 30 minutes two times daily. This gives us enough hot water to have a shower/bath each every day, and enough to use for washing dishes.

We have no dishwasher.

I have a small halogen electric heater which I used fairly heavily during the winter.

We have a Neff cooker, the kind that uses flat electric hobs on the top. It has an oven, which I believe is electric, and a grill. These are used every day in the morning and evening. In the evening would say that I do use it quite intensively, with multiple hobs switched on, sometimes also with the oven running, for about 30 - 35 minutes, because I like cooking.

We use the electric kettle possibly a fair amount more than a family of four might - we are two people who like fresh coffee and tea too much).

We have no microwave.

We have a large 'chest' freezer in the garage.

We have a fridge in the kitchen.

We have a washing machine that gets used on one day a week, Sunday, when it could be used to run three or four cycles of clothes, and then an additional spin cycle to get rid of excess water so things dry faster.

We have two laptops which are run all evening, though we do try to switch them off whenever they're not used.

I have a hi-fi which is used in morning and evening.

We have a normal amount of lights in our three-bedroom semi, we turn them off whenever they're not in use.

I hope this gives some insight into things for the moment and i'll get the info for the above

Scottish_Power

Hi omnirife

Thank you for your PM.

From what has been posted already it certainly looks like you were using a considerable amount of gas over the extremely cold months. That is understandable. The gas is now used far less and this shows with the meter readings that you have updated.

I am confused as to why a monthly payment plan of £25.00 was originally set up especially as the account was starting during the winter months. These £25 payments for January, February and March set you back as you were using far more than this at that time. When the payments were reassessed after 3 months, the payment would have been increased to match, more closely, what we expect you to use going forward and also to recover the outstanding balance accrued.

If you can locate the very first statement from SP then you can look at the meter readings used to start your gas/elec accounts and calculate what you have used up to the present readings. This consumption will cover most of the coldest months of the year and so I would expect your next 6 months to be far lower. Your payments are reviewed quarterly and seem to be correct. You are still clearing an outstanding balance on your account and by continuing to pay this amount you will build up a small credit on the account which can be used to cover your higher winter consumption.

As you are online you have the ability to update meter readings as often as you wish and create bills to see how much is being used. When I first moved into my new property, I updated meter readings at the start of each month (or as close to this period as possible). After 1-year I had an accurate picture of how much gas/elec I used over the cold/warm months. With this information I am then able to work out if my monthly Direct Debit is correct.

Have a look at the link below for some of our quickguides. Some of the information in the Energy Efficiency section may be of use to you:

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/support-centre/quickguide.aspx

Let me know if you have any further questions and I will be happy to assist.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

molerat

Considering what you have said above your useage is not totally unreasonable. I think you did go a bit ott over the winter but it is easily done. The DD is high because you have got to pay back the debt you built up, £25 was ridiculously low. Often they are set low so you build up a debt and then are stuck with that company, sneaky aren't they.

Are you on the cheapest possible tariff. Look at the energy comparison sites to see, you may also be able to get cashback through Quidco etc. You are at a good time to change because the debt is just about paid off. You will need your kWh figures for a year to get a real comparison. With those figures you could also get your DD reduced with your current supplier. Around £80 should easily cover what you are using over a year. Sounds a lot but bills are now almost double what they were a few years back. I think you have panicked because of those big bills but look at what you are using now, much more reasonable.

Start thinking about winter now. If there are rooms that are unused turn the radiator down low. Have you got TRV's on all rads ?. Using electric heaters can be a false economy when you have gas ch available. My whole house in winter is kept at 20 dg, including keeping a conservatory warm, 24/7 plus hot water for less than a 2 bar electric fire (or halogen heater) 24/7. The gas fire is also quite inefficient. Are you fully insulated ? There is loads of good advice on here about how to cut down on your bills, a good start might be to get a sharp stick to poke your brother with