Scottish power - are they rogues?

zorber

Yes this is standard practice, they keep your direct debit low so you go into debt to them they then double your direct debit so you can pay it off in 3 months hoping you wont reduce the direct debit, then running up a credit bill which they can invest or utilize as they please until you request it back

Butterfliesarepretty

zorber wrote: »

Yes this is standard practice, they keep your direct debit low so you go into debt to them they then double your direct debit so you can pay it off in 3 months hoping you wont reduce the direct debit, then running up a credit bill which they can invest or utilize as they please until you request it back

not in my experience with sp they dont. Mine is £48 a month for gas and electric and I provide my meter readings once a month online so that my figures are correct. I switch off everything I dont use including the sockets and I am at work all day four days a week, central heating will not come on till I believe my house will be too cold and even then I will put my cardi on.
I hardly use my fire and I turn the heating off at night in winter. It comes on from 6am to 8am then comes on at 6pm till 10pm in evenings.

So when my bill is created online I am in credit ready for winter.:rotfl:

Scottish_Power

Hi sece11

Thanks for posting additional information. Lets ignore the bottom 5 periods and only look at your consumption from 16/07/09. From 16/07/09 to 25/08/10 you have used a total of 5720 kWh. This period covers 406 days and your consumption averages out at 14.09 kWh per day. Using this average over a full year (365 days) this comes to 5143 kWh (exact same figures given to you by our customer service team).

If you are looking at previous bills and trying to compare consumption, make sure the periods combine together to make a year. If you were to look at the 4 statements generated from 16/07/09 the end period on the 4th statement is 02/06/10. Between this period you consumed a total of 4591 kWh. This is still 1 and a half months short of your full years consumption. If you average 13 kWh per day (as detailed in your table) from 02/06/10 to 16/07/10 (making the full year) this will add a further 572 kWh (44 days x 13 kWh) to your total consumption. Your total electricity consumption for 365 days is therefore around 5163 kWh (pretty close to the original figure).

Using your table for the gas and again only looking at the consumption from 16/07/09, you have used a total of 16088 kWh up to 02/06/10. If you then average 7 kWh per day from 02/06/10 to 16/07/10, this will add a further 308 kWh (44 days at 7 kWh) to your total consumption. Your total gas consumption for 365 days is therefore around 16396 kWh (would need to check your consumption details to see why there is a difference in what you were previously quoted).

Does this help understand what your annual consumption is?

Let me know if you have any further questions. More than happy to look into this for you.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

ankyspon

Hi Colin - Thanks for yours. I am laid up at the mo with cellulitis so can't stay long now.
On the USwitch site, i put in the total payment figures to BG for the year 09/10 ending end Mar 2010.
These are:- £300pa for Gas and £310 forElect which equated to a consumption of 5673kWh GAS and 2002kWh ELECT.
SP came up with a combined payment of £387.70pa which meant a saving of £222pa.
SP quoted their enery rates as GAS - 3.678p per kWh and 2.668p per kWh above 4572kWh pa
ELECT - 13.781p per kWh and 8.958p per kWh above 900 kWh pa.
My annual Bill of £387.70 using Online Energy Saver 9 Dual Fuel.. Based on consumption of 5673kWh GAS and 2002kWh ELECT.

This is the email from SP:-

Thank you for your recent email regarding your Direct Debit increase. When calculating your new Direct Debit instalment value the following factors are taken into consideration: - · Current unit price · Service package discounts · Current account balance · Forecast energy usage over the next 12 months The breakdown of your forecasted energy over the next 12 months is as follows: Current Service Package: Online Energy Saver 9 Electricity 902 kWh x Unit price 13.125p £118.39 Electricity 3650 kWh x Unit price 8.531p £311.38 Discounts £21.06 VAT £20.44Total £429.15 Gas 4584 kWh x Unit price 3.503p £160.58 Gas 6946 kWh x Unit price 2.541p £176.50 Discounts £10.02 VAT £16.35Total £343.41 Total Electricity and Gas Charges £772.55 Current Debit Balance £48.74 Total Cost £821.29 Dividing this total by 12 months shows your Direct Debit should be set at £68.44. Your direct debit has been set to £68.00 per month to reflect the above calculations. This amount will begin being deducted from your bank from 12 September 2010. By managing your account online, you receive an annual discount of up to £15.75 (including VAT) every year. We have recently made some changes to our Online Energy Service to make it easier for you to manage your account. We have added a "My messages" section, which will provide you with a reminder of anything that needs your attention when you are logged in to your account.

Once you have checked your usage, for any further questions you can request a call back from us by clicking the Request a call back option. We will continue to monitor your consumption every three months. In case your consumption falls, your Direct Debit will be reduced in accordance. You can call our free energy efficiency number at 0800 33 22 33 from Monday to Friday between 8:00am to 4:45pm to get energy saving tips. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, regardsTaposh Roy ChowdhuryE-Contact

PS - I have an email today (1Sept) from SP as follows:-

Mr M Hardy18 Windsor DriveWiggintonYorkYO32 2QQOur ref:0109hardYour ref: 91604842010Dear Mr Hardy Thank you for your recent email regarding your monthly direct debit.I apologise for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you. I have today tried to contact you by telephone, unsuccessfully.A complaint number 3083872 has been recorded for you.After reviewing your account your direct debit reassessment should have not been issued, as you have only been a ScottishPower customer since June 2010. Based on this information I have amended your direct debit back to £32.33 per month. I note that you have advised that you have cancelled your direct debit. To date this has not been updated on our records and when we have received your cancellation notice your account will default to Monthly Cash Payment.The direct debit cancellation will change the tariff on your account from your Online Saver 9 package, however if you are happy for your direct debit to go back to £32.33 per month I will update your account back onto this tariff.Over the course of a full year with actual meter readings we will gain a better understanding of your usage. Therefore your future reassessments should be more in line with your actual consumption and not estimated as it has been this time.I hope that this has resolved this matter for you.Yours sincerelyJoanne FisherCustomer Care Representative.

So Colin - All resolved for now and THanks if you intervened and my behalf - maybe I owe you a wee dram!! Mike :T

ankyspon

May I thank all of you who found the time to respond to my query with SP. Today I have reached a satisfactory conclusion. I hope that others will persevere to reach the same.

Regards - Mike

davidgmmafan

You might want to remove your personal info when posting info online...

Well done on getting a satisfactory outcome.

Scottish_Power

Hi ankyspon

Thanks for your reply and I am glad that you are happy with action that has been taken. No intervention from me up to this point, so hold onto that dram for the time being.

Like davidgmmafan has said, if you are posting contents of emails on the forum, just copy specific information and do not include your name and address.

As you have done this I have been able to check your account and see if there are any potential issues. You have updated meter readings in August which means that we have almost 3 months worth of consumption, which is of course not much to work with however our system does calculate annual consumption everytime an accurate meter reading is updated.

In your case, our system estimates that you will use around 4542 kWh of electricity over 12-months. This is more than double the 2002 kWh which you confirmed to USwitch that you use. Since your account opened, you have used 852 kWh in 85 days (10.2 kWh per day). We would expect your electricity to increase slightly over the winter months, however if you continue to use exactly the same amount as you have done over the last 3 months, then your annual consumption will be closer to 3723 kWh. We will of course only know exactly what you use after 12-months, but we will suggest amendments to your payments if we think they do not match your level of consumption.

On to the gas - Our billing system estimates that you will use around 11521 kWh over a 12-month period based on the level of consumption so far. You have used 940 kWh within 3 months however our system does take into account the higher winter use on the gas. Again, we will only know for sure when we have gone through the winter months and we have actual meter readings to use and assess consumption.

As you are online, I would recommend updating meter readings monthly, if possible, for the first 12-months. This will paint an accurate picture of what you are using and what your payments should be set to. If you continue to do this next year then you can do a year on year comparison to see if there have been any changes in your situation.

For me, an ideal account would have a credit balance at this time of the year to help towards the higher winter consumption. You have an outstanding balance at this point which our system will pick up and review your payments. Please keep a close eye on your balance over the winter months and if you have any concerns at all, do not hesitate to contact either myself or our customer service team.

I hope that I have been of assistance. Please let me know if you have any questons and I will be happy to help.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower