SP just increased DD to £106!!

daz_free

Hi,

I moved into my house in June and registered with Scottish Power and I'm on their online standard tariff. I do not know a thing about utilities but their getting really high so need to sort it out.

SP have just emailed me to say my Direct Debit will be increasing to £106 a month. I have a £122 debit at the moment so part of the increase will be to get rid of that. I live in a 3 bed semi and there is just me. I work from home so have the laptop on most of the day.

Also central heating (CH) and hot water (HW) come on for 2 hours a day. 1 hour in the morning and 1 in the middle of the night and then I may put the CH on for a few hours in the evening.

I put the CH and HW on for an hour during the night to make sure my pipes don't freeze. Can I just put one or the other on? Or do I need both?

Also any other tips to reduce my bill (e.g. turn off radiators in rooms which are not being used) etc...

I really need to reduce my DD. I havn't even thought of moving as don't understand a thing about the traiffs, think it is time to learn...

Thanks,

D

molerat

What was the previous DD set at ? They should be recovering the debt at around £20 - 30 per month over 4 - 6 months which means your monthly useage is around £75 - 85 which is quite high considering your circumstances.

Check your gas meter to see what it reads in, m3 or ft3 and check the bill is using the same.

You are not on the cheapest tariff available so a good start would be to find the kWh figures from move in to now and double them. Put those into one of the comparison sites and see what comes up.

Start reading your meters weekly from now on so you can see what you are using.

Scottish_Power

Hi daz_free

I would give us a call to see if we can put you onto a better tariff. Once you have done this I would ensure that you update regular meter readings going forward so that your online account is based entirely on accurate meter readings. The more meter readings you update the more accurate any Direct Debit reassessment will be. It also helps to collate accurate information on the level of gas/elec you are using and you can review this graphically and also year on year.

To help identify methods to reduce your consumption, I have included a link to energy efficiency advice on our website. I hope this helps:

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/energy-efficiency/energy-efficiency-at-home/top-10-energy-saving-tips.aspx

I will be more than happy to help if you have any further questions.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

macman

For a start, why are you on the standard tariff, which is any supplier's most expensive one? Check your cheapest online discounted tariff using a comp site, then switch if necessary using a cashback site.
Your laptop uses a tiny amount of power-. Putting your CH and DHW on for an hour in the night is unlikely to make any difference to your pipes freezing (if they are properly lagged)-the CH will not warm the pipe runs very much.