Tied to a company for life - storage heaters

scotslad1983

Hi All,

Hoping for some advice, and hoping the information I've just received is incorrect.

I have lived in my flat for three years to date, and have storage heating. I've stuck with Scottish Power (my original supplier) for this duration, although I 'upgraded' to a cheaper plan a year or so into it.

Following Martin's advice I tried to change supplier.

I tried to switch six months ago:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2480629

In short, I received a letter from Scottish Power saying that they were unable to transfer my supply, due to the new supplier not registering all the supply numbers.

I phoned the new supplier (Atlantic) and they told me they couldn't 'see' my second meter (my Comfortplus meter) and then advised me not to switch as they couldn't offer me a competitive rate - despite Moneysupermarket telling me they could save me nearly £200.

--

Disheartened, I let it lie for a few months. I tried again in November, this time NPower appeared to be the best deal with their SOL19 plan. I got the same letter today from Scottish Power.

I phoned NPower - they seem to have a serial number on the national database that isn't in my property. They have neither of my meters registered there!

I phoned Scottish Power back, they explained this is because nobody can offer me the rates they can on the Comfortplus. I asked if that meant I was unable to get a competitive rate for my electricity - to which she agreed!

Can anybody give me any advice? (I spend approximately 55%-60% on my Comfortplus).

Many thanks

JasX

i think your best bet is to chase down the database issue with whoever is responsible for it and get your info corrected.... not entirelly sure who that is, if they correct it expect whoever your supplier is to get very confused and need a complaint to sort it out.

If you don;t make progress with the database people just start firing complaints into scottish power and escalate them to Ofgem if they don;t fix it....

Final thing to try is edit your above post to put the words (scottish power problem) promenantly in the title and maybe the scottish power rep on here waill wander thru with another answer..... or if they don;t you could PM them asking them to take a look.

spiro

Your heating will be on something like E10 metering and you will have 2 S numbers on your bill. Any supply you try to change to will need to register both numbers with the same supply start date.

That said very few suppliers support this type of metering configuration.

If you dont know/have your 2 S numbers, if you pm me with your address I can find them for you on the register and confirm your meter serial numbers.

Ignite

I had an issue like this at one property a few years back. It was on a strange tariff and in the end I had to ask the existing company to move me onto E7. They came and changed the meters (there were 3!) and left 1 digital E7 meter. I was then able to change suppliers a couple of months later when the meter had been added to the database.

Scottish_Power

Hi scotslad1983

I understand your concern and its a tricky situation. The bottom line is you have a meter configuration that is not supported by other suppliers. You are receiving a lower rate for all heating this is used within the property, another low rate for electricity used at night, and a standard rate for all electricity used during the day. Savings that you are being advised of on MoneySuperMarket are not correct as no other supplier will support billing you on these three rates.

Unless you change the heating within the property, you are being billed on the best tariff available to you.

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

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

Premier_2

Make one wonder how he did a comparison 6 months ago as such legacy tariffs are not included on any comparison site

stewie_griffin

I think E.ON have some 'Electrical Heating' tariffs which might support your meter. There aren't any details on their website so you will need to call them for more information. Either that or one of their reps on here might be able to post some info. Do you know how many hours your Comfort Plus meter is on for each day?

scotslad1983

Hi Colin,

Thanks very much for your reply - and to the others who have taken time to do so.

I was wondering if I could ask Scottish Power to change the meter set-up in my flat - is that possible? At the moment, I don't have the freedom of choice which surely I should have?

What are my other options? I'm slightly concerned that I'm not on the best plan either, as I'm paying £70 approx on average per month (£150 per winter month), for a small two-bedroom flat. I'm insulated and turn all my devices off, and am even quite 'stingy' (!) over electricity in the flat!

Can you reach me directly Colin?

Cheers..

[Deleted User]

Hi,

have a look a these links, will give you an idea how your system works.

Disregard the prices as they are out of date,

Comfort Plus.

Comfort Plus Control.

Scottish_Power

Hi scotslad1983

Send your details to me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I'll have a look at your tariff.

ScottishPower are responsible for the cabling up to your meter. The internal wiring of the property is your responsibility, therefore if you want to change the heating you have within the property then you will need to arrange this independantly.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower