Scottish Power Want excessive DD payments, can I complain to regulator ?

nurquhar

Over the Xmas/Ny period we got stuck without any Heating Oil because the oil companys claimed they were short of stock and could not arange transport in the cold weather etc, etc, etc. They also used this as an oportunity for profitering, ie 70% price increases, but I am sure thats covered elsewhere on here.:eek:

However since our only other source of energy we have is electric we had to start using it for heating, hot water, and cooking. These would normaly have been done by our Oil Boiler and Oil Aga. Now getting by over xmas with elderly parents and a young child with just a few fan heaters in the coldest weather for years was no great fun. Indeed we also suffered a number of burst pipes because we could'nt heat properly.

Consequently our electric usage went through the roof and the daily average for our last bill period nearly trebled to 85kWh/day. ie Nov 10 -> Feb 11.

Now SP want to increase our Direct debit monthly payment to £126 from £56.:mad: Now they only just reduced my payment last October from £89 to £56 because I built up a £502 credit on my account !!

Now being a bit of a wiz with excel I calcualted what our "normal" daily average was using the meter readings from the preceeding 12 month period prior to Nov 10. This came out to be 32.2kWh/day. And using the same method SP use I calculated the DD we should have as being a monthly payment of £90.

Now having written to SP and explained the exceptional circumstances and giving them my Direct Debit calculation they have just replied to say they still want the £126 every month. A case of "the Computer Says NO".

Can I take my case to the regulator and get them to force SP to see sense ? How do I do that ?

Neil

Premier_2

You'd be better off following the suppliers official complaints procedure

zagfles

I had the same problem with SP a couple of years ago, but my usage hadn't even changed!

My account was in credit and on my current annual usage and their current prices I was paying almost exactly the right amount (not even accounting for the credit on the account), yet they wanted to increase the DD by over £20 a month.

I emailed them with my figures and said if they increased my DD I'd switch suppliers immediately. It seemed to work they emailed back saying they did think it should go up (with no explaination) but they wouldn't increase it.

DirectDebacle

In an ideal world the balance of your A/C should be zero on its anniversary date. The DD is variable to take account of changes in price and/or usage.

Clearly you have used more electricity than usual because of the problems you describe. It is therefore not surprising that S.P. wish to adjust your DD accordingly.

You do not say what your anniversary date is nor how S.P. have calculated the revised DD payment. They recently reviewed my DD and proposed an increase. I am on a fixed price tariff.

Their revised DD was based upon anticipated usage from Feb/11 to Feb/12, a debit balance of £40.00 and of course included the coldest December since records began.

My anniversary date is August. I calculated that by August/11 my account would be in credit and a call to their customer service dept and reminding them that the DD scheme was set up so that at times the A/C would be in credit or debit and not permanently in credit (as they and most suppliers are now trying to achieve) made sure that the DD was not increased.

Recalculating your electricity usage for your anniversary dates and including the increased usage you have described will give you the correct DD for the remainder of your year to achieve a zero balance.

I am unsure if the £90 you have calculated the DD should be is for the next 12 months or to your anniversary date, if different.

A tad premature to go to the Energy Ombudsman.

zagfles

DirectDebacle wrote: »

They recently reviewed my DD and proposed an increase. I am on a fixed price tariff.

Their revised DD was based upon anticipated usage from Feb/11 to Feb/12, a debit balance of £40.00 and of course included the coldest December since records began.

My anniversary date is August. I calculated that by August/11 my account would be in credit and a call to their customer service dept and reminding them that the DD scheme was set up so that at times the A/C would be in credit or debit and not permanently in credit (as they and most suppliers are now trying to achieve) made sure that the DD was not increased.

Yes, I've noticed that most suppliers tend to try to move recalculation date to spring time, so the account is in credit most of the year. I don't really object to it, after all the big DD discounts are partly because they don't take as much of a credit risk, and with low interest rates it's not worth worrying about.

brewerdave

zagfles wrote: »

Yes, I've noticed that most suppliers tend to try to move recalculation date to spring time, so the account is in credit most of the year. I don't really object to it, after all the big DD discounts are partly because they don't take as much of a credit risk, and with low interest rates it's not worth worrying about.

A lot of people have been "caught out " by this change. I have always switched around September so that would be the anniversary date - but both my last two suppliers tried to impose early changes in DD to achieve balance by "Spring"! I successfully argued for a "delay" in the increase until after the full year - but I suspect it is going to become harder and harder to fight this off. Yes, interest rates are low - but why give the Utility Company a free cash flow injection? Its better off in my account reducing the risk of an overdraft!!:T

Scottish_Power

Hi nurquhar

I am sure that we will be able to resolve this matter for you internally. I appreciate that you have contacted us and been advised that the lowest we can go to is £126.00 however were you given an explanation for this, i.e. you have an outstanding balance on the account at the moment? your account is due its annual review in a few months and this is the amount required up to that point?

From the information that you have posted, you would have used around 7650 kWh between Nov and Feb. Based on our current standard DD rates this would equate to around £900. Less the £500 credit and £168 of payments, this would result in you having an outstanding balance of around £232.00. If your annual review date is around 6 months time, the payments may be reassessed to cover ongoing use (£90 per month) and clear the arrears within this time (additional £39.00 per month) increasing your payments to around £129.00. These are just rough figures based on what you have posted, however I would recommend checking what your current balance is now with your account being billed to accurate meter readings.

If you have an outstanding balance then this will be the reason for the DD increase. Have a look at our internal complaints escalation procedure if you're having any difficulties getting the information you require:

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/support-centre/service-and-standards/complaints.aspx

I hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

nurquhar

I signed up SP in Feb 2006.
Last annual statment bill date was 23rd April 2010.

This is my DD calculation :

Account number: xxxxxxxxxxx
Number of days Total Daily Average
17/11/10 - 03/02/11 79 6731 85
22/10/10 - 16/11/10 26 650 25
21/07/10 - 21/10/10 93 2789 30
23/04/10 - 20/07/10 89 2475 28
25/01/10 - 22/04/10 88 3147 36
30/10/09 - 24/01/10 87 3026 35
04/08/09 - 29/10/09 87 2603 30
07/05/09 - 03/08/09 89 2677 30
05/02/09 - 06/05/09 91 3352 37
10/11/08 - 04/02/09 87 3378 39
Average Excluding 17/11/10-03/02/11 32.22222

Daily Average 32.222
Yearly kWh 11,761
Primary Units (kWh) 225
Secondary Units (kWh) 11,536
Primary Units(p) 16.699
Secondary Units(p) 7.216
Usage Charge (£) 870.01
Discounts -10.69
VAT 42.97
Balance On Account 171.41
Total Charges 1,073.70
Monthy Debit 89.47


This is SP's calculation :

Current Service Package: WWW SVR11 D

Electricity (Primary Units) 900 kWh x Unit price 16.699p £150.29
Electricity (Secondary Units) 15649 kWh x Unit price 7.216p £1129.23
Standing Charge £0.00
Account Charges £0.00
Discounts -£10.69
VAT £63.44
Total £1332.28

Total Electricity Charges £1279.53
Balance on your account at reassessment £171.41
Total Charges £1503.69

Dividing this total by 12 months shows your Direct Debit should be set at £125.30.

Your direct debit has been set to £126.00 per month to reflect the above calculations.

uptomyeyeballs

brewerdave wrote: »

A lot of people have been "caught out " by this change. I have always switched around September so that would be the anniversary date - but both my last two suppliers tried to impose early changes in DD to achieve balance by "Spring"! I successfully argued for a "delay" in the increase until after the full year - but I suspect it is going to become harder and harder to fight this off. Yes, interest rates are low - but why give the Utility Company a free cash flow injection? Its better off in my account reducing the risk of an overdraft!!:T

I've had to make a small adjustment myself to try to make sure I have zero balance in April (I started in September). From my previous annual consumption, my DD was set at £43/month, but due to the severe December, I made an additional deposit of £50. My balance is currently £100 in credit and I expect the February and March bills to be about £60each, so £66 credit going into April, with a £43 debit leaves +£23, which is as near as dammit.

Premier_2

In the last year you used about 16000kWh of electricity using your own calculation data (which is what SP have calculated your payments based upon)

nurquhar wrote: »

...This is my DD calculation :

Account number: xxxxxxxxxxx
Number of days Total Daily Average
17/11/10 - 03/02/11 79 6731 85
22/10/10 - 16/11/10 26 650 25
21/07/10 - 21/10/10 93 2789 30
23/04/10 - 20/07/10 89 2475 28
25/01/10 - 22/04/10 88 3147 36
....

So your assumption you only use about 11000kWh p.a. is incorrect, at least over the last year.

If you explain to SP the unusual usage in the last quarter that resulted in over twice the typical usage, they may adjust the figure for you, but some allowance has to be made for the fact you used that high amount and it needs repaying.

By averaging things out over many years previously, you are hoping to pay for what you've already used for years ahead ... and the supplier may not wish to wait that long to get paid for what you have already used.

On the brighter side, if you pay what they are now asking, and you return to the lower usage, you should see the payments fall at the next review
But with heating oil still expensive, will you be buying any for next year, or will you be using electricity for heating again? :huh:

nurquhar

Premier wrote: »

In the last year you used about 16000kWh of electricity using your own calculation data (which is what SP have calculated your payments based upon)

So your assumption you only use about 11000kWh p.a. is incorrect, at least over the last year.

If you explain to SP the unusual usage in the last quarter that resulted in over twice the typical usage, they may adjust the figure for you, but some allowance has to be made for the fact you used that high amount and it needs repaying.

By averaging things out over many years previously, you are hoping to pay for what you've already used for years ahead ... and the supplier may not wish to wait that long to get paid for what you have already used.

On the brighter side, if you pay what they are now asking, and you return to the lower usage, you should see the payments fall at the next review
But with heating oil still expensive, will you be buying any for next year, or will you be using electricity for heating again? :huh:

I tried writing to SP, they just ignored my point that the last period was exceptional.

I did calculation a while back and oil is cheaper than electric upto about 70p per litre if you assume electric costs 10p per kWh.

I am thinking about Air Source Heat Pumps

As for SP they don't do a very good job of keeping my account with a zero credit in April. Apart for the last exception its been in credit by hundreds of pounds for years, and I don't think they paid me penny to borrow all that money from me :mad: See the last set of available data :

04/02/11 £518.78 (actual) £171.41 in Debit
17/01/11 £52.00 £347.37 in Credit
15/12/10 £52.00 £295.37 in Credit
17/11/10 £65.71 (actual) £243.37 in Credit
15/11/10 £87.00 £309.08 in Credit
22/10/10 £280.53 (actual) £222.08 in Credit
15/10/10 £87.00 £502.61 in Credit
15/09/10 £87.00 £415.61 in Credit
16/08/10 £87.00 £328.61 in Credit
21/07/10 £246.45 (actual) £241.61 in Credit
15/07/10 £87.00 £488.06 in Credit
15/06/10 £87.00 £401.06 in Credit
17/05/10 £87.00 £314.06 in Credit
23/04/10 £316.19 (actual) £227.06 in Credit
15/04/10 £116.50 £543.25 in Credit
15/03/10 £116.50 £426.75 in Credit
15/02/10 £116.50 £310.25 in Credit
25/01/10 £305.68 (actual) £193.75 in Credit
15/01/10 £116.50 £499.43 in Credit