Energy price jumps begin today with Scottish Power rise News Discussion

rev_henry

glider3560 wrote: »

The firm still haven't given me any notice. The media gave me a week's notice that some tariffs would increase, but I am still waiting to hear from Scottish Power themselves.

Alas, their T&Cs allow them to not tell me until 65 days after the price increase. Surely an unfair contract?

When I do eventually hear, I'll be rejecting the increase and switching again to take advantage of the cashback on offer elsewhere.

Have we established whether increased prices allow us to cancel without paying cancellation fees yet?

MatNot

rev_henry wrote: »

Have we established whether increased prices allow us to cancel without paying cancellation fees yet?

To quote their terms and conditions:

We may apply cancellation charges [cut] if you switch to On-line Energy Saver 7 Offer but then cancel your supply contract [cut] before the 30th November 2010.

Therefore I believe you can avoid the cancellation charges by emailing to say you reject the price increase and giving notice that you intend to switch. The contract prices should stay in place until the switch happens. The only problem is in the definition of cancelling.

Is it:
1. Cancelled now
2. Cancelled when they receive notification from the other suppler.
3. Cancelled on the official switch over date to the new suppler.

Notice of cancellation is difference to being cancelled.

stevebarrett86

I am on SP Online Energy Saver 7 Dual Fuel. Tie in period ends on 30th November and I have been offered a new 'deal' from 1st December. I say deal in the very loosest sense!!!! The tariff for Electric is going up 9.7% for the first 225kwH and 3.1% for rest, the Gas tariff is going up by (wait for it....) 87.8% for the first 670 KwH and 21.8% thereafter (plus they have reduced the first amount from 1143KWh per quarter to 670 so that in the summer months it is al virtually at the higher tariffs. They are a bunch of sharks and their News releases are absolutely misleading and verging on fraudulent misrepresentation in my view.

Sad that I am (its the accountant in me I am afraid) I have input all my quarters consumption into a spreadsheet and worked out what the cost would have been using the new tariffs vs what I actually paid. Based on 11 months data the Gas will be over 26% higher (in Summer quarter it would have been 41% higher!!!) and the Electric 4.9% higher. On annualised basis I would therefore be 18% or £225 worse off using these new tariffs. I am staggered to say the least. Guess who won't be staying with Scottish Power.

rev_henry

How are you lot doing these calculations? I don't understand it at all. Why isn't there just a table saying x price before, y price after?

stevebarrett86

@rev_henry

No simple way I am afraid (as SP wouldn't want to make it too easy...) You probably need to use a spreadsheet and have copies of all your last years bills to hand.

rev_henry

stevebarrett86 wrote: »

@rev_henry

No simple way I am afraid (as SP wouldn't want to make it too easy...) You probably need to use a spreadsheet and have copies of all your last years bills to hand.

Pfft, is there any other utility that works like this?! I think not!

jrawle

rev_henry wrote: »

Pfft, is there any other utility that works like this?! I think not!

Actually there are PDFs available with the prices before and after the rise. Remember that there are different prices for each region, and that there is a higher rate for the first n units. The only way to know how much money you are likely to save, or how much your bills will increase, is to use you actual usage figures from the last year, and work out the cost on the two different tariffs. This is the same for all energy suppliers, not just Scottish Power.

josonic wrote: »

Received an e-mail from Scottish Power telling me my Online Energy Saver offer was due to finish at the end of November 2010. As 'a valued customer' they would like to offer to extend my Online Energy Saver 8 offer until December 2011.

I went onto a couple of comparison websites and entered my tariff, and it looked like I was on the best dual fuel deal, the next being £16 more expensive.

As you've discovered, the "offer" is that you will still receive prices 2% below their standard prices. It doesn't mean your current prices continue for another year. This sort of discount is no longer on offer to new customers, so it is a concession; however it happens to be of little value when their basic prices have gone up so much.

I've signed up with EDF. £50 cashback already tracked with Quidco, and there should be a £75 discount on my EDF account. As I'm a fairly low user, EDF would have to increase their prices by 47% in March for me to lose out over the next year!

My only concern is that switching takes "4 to 8 weeeks", so in the meantime, will I be paying Scottish Power's new, high prices?

Nicifer_noonoo

bye_bye_band_G wrote: »

I am on their Online Energy Saver 9 in the Norweb region and my elec price is going up by 24%, my gas by 15% (for the first 1143kw/quarter). This is not a mistake, I really can do the maths!!
This is an online energy deal which bears a cancellation charge before 31 March 2011, so I am stuck with huge price increases or bearing the cancellation charge and switching.
I think this is outrageous, and the announcement by Scottish Power was misleading.
.

Just to let you know, I am in the same situation. I called them today to complain that I had not been personally notified of the price rises BEFORE they came into effect, and whilst I understand that this is legal I deem it to be very bad customer service. I asked to be put through to a complaints manager, who said that he would waive the cancellation charge and as a new supplier would be taking over the supply, I would not be charged the extra costs associated with the price rise whilst the switch is completed. Give them a call!

Nicifer_noonoo

jrawle wrote: »

My only concern is that switching takes "4 to 8 weeeks", so in the meantime, will I be paying Scottish Power's new, high prices?

Phone Scottish Power and tell them you are switching supplier and do not wish to pay the price increase. It's a little known loophole that if you initiate a switch within fifteen days of a price rise, you can choose not to pay the higher prices whilst the switching process is going on. As mentioned in my previous post, I also requested that they waive my cancellation fee, which they did.

rev_henry

Nicifer_noonoo wrote: »

Phone Scottish Power and tell them you are switching supplier and do not wish to pay the price increase. It's a little known loophole that if you initiate a switch within fifteen days of a price rise, you can choose not to pay the higher prices whilst the switching process is going on. As mentioned in my previous post, I also requested that they waive my cancellation fee, which they did.

I'm going to try this, thanks.