Scottish Power monthly charge - can anybody explain it?

garybryan

Hi everyone,

I've searched the forum but can't find much. We're on the Scottish Power Online Standard tariff, and we get a monthly charge of £110. However, these charges seem to be much higher than the actual bills according to the Bill & Payment History on the website. In fact our account is currently "£535.16 in credit", so it seems to me that we're giving them much more money than we need to to cover the bills.

I'm sure that a couple of years ago (in my previous flat), SP would just send us a bill saying how much you owed for the electricity we had used, and we'd pay that amount: simple and common sense. I've called SP a couple of times recently and the people I spoke to seemed to think (nobody seemed sure of anything) that this common-sense billing method is no longer available and monthly charges is the only option. Is this just some money-making scheme for SP? What will happen when I move flat, will I get any money back from all this overpayment or will SP just keep it? Are there any energy companies who only charge for the electricity that you use these days that I might consider switching to? The FAQs on the SP site are a bit useless, they say that the monthly charge will be adjusted to match our usage, which is nonsense if you look at the bill amounts and the fact that it's the same in summer and winter.

penrhyn

Are you possibly paying by standing order?
If paying by direct debit then its entirely possible that you will be in credit atm, as your winter bills will be high.

Suggest you use a comparison site to check if you are getting a good deal with your present supplier.

PS Use annual consumption figure in Kwh.

Scottish_Power

Hi garybryan

Have you been a customer of ScottishPower long? What I really mean is have you been with us for 12-months. If you have and you've been online then you will have a record of the gas and electricity you have used over the past year. If you haven't been with us that long, do you have accurate meter readings recorded anywhere (previous bill etc) which you can use along with your current meter readings to calculate how much (in kWhs) you use over the year?

In relation to the credit you say is showing on your account - has the account been billed up to accurate meter readings? If it has then I would suggest you contact us to review your payments.

We no longer offer the quarterly cash tariff and this has been replaced with a monthly cash plan which allows customers to pay a certain amount each month towards their gas and electricity bill. This stops customers running up 3 months worth of debt on their gas and electricity account and not being able to afford to pay the balance. I assume when you say monthly charge of £110 that you mean your monthly Direct Debit payment is £110.00.

Have a good look at the services available to you being an online customer. If you know how to use the online service then you should be able to obtain all answers that you require.

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

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

garybryan

I've been a customer for less than 12 months; the account used to be in a flatmate's name but then I took over it when she moved out.

I've provided meter readings on the website whenever asked, and someone came to read the meter last week, so my readings should be up to date.

Yes, I did mean my direct debit when I said monthly charge.

My bill history, taken from the site (+ is a DD payment, - is a bill):

01/12/10 +£111.00 £535.16 in Credit
01/11/10 +£111.00 £424.16 in Credit
08/10/10 -£164.96 (actual) £313.16 in Credit
01/10/10 +£111.00 £478.12 in Credit
01/09/10 +£111.00 £367.12 in Credit
02/08/10 +£111.00 £256.12 in Credit
13/07/10 -£308.65 (actual) £145.12 in Credit
01/07/10 +£111.00 £453.77 in Credit
01/06/10 +£111.00 £342.77 in Credit
26/04/10 +£116.00 £231.77 in Credit
26/04/10 -£0.23 (estimate) £115.77 in Credit
06/04/10 +£116.00 £116.00 in Credit

So for example, my last bill was for £164, but I effectively paid £333. The first one was 23p and I effectively paid £116. The second one was only slightly "overpaid", unless you consider the £115.77 left over from the last payment :P. My next bill is due in January, by which point I'll have made another direct debit payment so my balance will be £646.16. I realise it'll be a higher bill because of the winter months, but I highly doubt it'll be as high as £646 (and if it is then some serious shouting at flatmates to stop being so frivolous with their heaters will be in order, especially since I practically never use mine, but let's not start that rant :P). Say that this next bill comes to £300... I'll still have a £346.16 credit on my account. And I'm planning on moving out of my flat early next year, which will mean closing the account. When I do so, will I get any of that money back?

brewerdave

When you move out make sure you tell SP and give them closing readings; they will then close the account and refund you any credit - it may take up to 6-8 weeks tho' in my experience!
Looking at your billed amounts you could probably argue for a reduced monthly amount - but if you are moving out in the first few months of 2011 it hardly seems worthwhile unless you are desperate to reduce your outgoings. Your aren't losing much interest by overpaying slightly.

macman

How many meter readings have you supplied since you moved in? If you supply regular readings at least every quarter (you don't have to wait for them to read your meter) then your DD can be more accurately adjusted to match your actual usage. When you sign up, the utility co. has no idea what the likely level of usage will be, Even if they previously supplied the property, the lifestyle of the new residents may be entirely different, and the consumption much more or much less.

Scottish_Power

Hi garybryan

Thank you for providing this information. From what you have posted, you were £313.16 in credit the last time a bill was created for you. In order to confirm what your current balance is you will need to log onto your online account, update your current meter readings and process the statement. This will then confirm to you what the accurate balance is as of today.

Between 13/07/10 and 08/10/10 you used a total of £164.96 (approx £55.00 per month). The issue with all electric properties is that there is normally a large difference in consumption over the colder months. If you bill your account to accurate meter readings now, this should highlight an increase in consumption from 08/10/10. As you are online you do not need to wait to be asked for a meter reading and you can update these as often as you wish. If you want check your consumption on a weekly basis then you can do this no problem. You do not need to wait any time at all if you want to check your consumption.

If you move out of the property, make sure you update accurate meter readings for the day you move out. Any credit that is on the account when it is finalised will be returned to you by cheque.

Hope this helps. Again, any questions let me know.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower