Is Scottish Power Pay in Advance a Good Tarriff?

Chiddles

I have been on the very good Scottish Power Online Energy Saver Fixed Price 2011 which has just come to an end. Unfortunately I missed the boat a bit and didnt get the relatively good deals that have all gone in the last couple of months. I use 14604 kWh Gas and 2745 kWh Electric.

Uswitch shows that British Gas Web Saver 11 is the best deal at the moment estimating an annual cost of £784.66 while Scottish Power's own Online Energy Saver 13 is not far behind at £798.36. Unfortunately, the Pay in Advance tarriff doesnt show up in the online price comparison sites so I am at a loss as to what the best choice is.

The OES13 states a minimum discount of at least 2% less than the standard Gas and Electric prices while the Pay in Advance is a discount of exactly 5%. So on the face of it, Pay in Advance sounds better. However, if I was on the Scottish Power standard tarriff for Gas and Electric now, my yearly cost is estimated at £925.31.

Compared to the standard estimate, the OES13 estimate is £140 less which is 15% cheaper. If Pay in Advance is only 5% cheaper, then I would expect to be paying approximately £879, about £80 more than OES13.

I am probably going about these calculations the wrong way so any help would be greatly appreciated.

maryb

I am in almost exactly the same situation as you although I use more gas and elec as we have a large drafty old house. I am also struggling how to work out whether it is a good deal. I don't know how to work out the AER on the pay in advance. If you do this you are losing interest on the money because it is all paid in one lump. whereas OES13 is presumably a monthly direct debit.

So if you assume you have £900 sitting in savings you would earn money on that. If you take out 1/12 each month to pay your bill, your average balance is £450 on which you would get interest of say 2.5% = £11.25 - which is also subject to tax unless it is in an ISA. If you take the money out at the start of the year to Pay in Advance you don't get any interest.

So you have to take that off the saving you make on Pay in Advance. And that's as far as I have got.

I will watch with interest if anyone who is more numbers savvy comes along to sort us out

Cardew

Unless it has changed recently, the 'pay in advance' scheme only applies to their Standard(i.e. most expensive) tariff; so is a very poor deal.

Scottish_Power

Hi Chiddles

Have a look at the Pay In Advance PDF below and locate your areas prices. Using your annual consumption in kWh you should be able to work out whether this is a financially beneficial tariff for you.

http://cww.css.scottishpower.plc.uk/css/products/pricing/current_prices/PayInAdvance.pdf

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

t0rt0ise

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Chiddles

http://cww.css.scottishpower.plc.uk/css/products/pricing/current_prices/PayInAdvance.pdf

Link doesn't work!

Chiddles

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Chiddles

Have a look at the Pay In Advance PDF below...
http://cww.css.scottishpower.plc.uk/css/products/pricing/current_prices/PayInAdvance.pdf
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Question 1 - What is the correct link?
Question 2 - How do I contact you?

Thanks,

Scottish_Power

Hi Chiddles

Not sure why that link is not working. Try the link below and then follow the instructions to get to the Pay In Advance tariff:

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/your-home/existing-customer/home.aspx

Make sure it says "Not An Existing Customer?" in the top right of the page. If it doesnt click on "Are You An Existing Customer?" to change the layout of the page. Click on Energy Products on the bottom right of the page under Helpful Links. Select Pay In Advance to review detail of the tariff. You can then select "View Prices" on the right hand side.

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

reduceditem

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/products/pay-in-advance.aspx



I'm on this scheme.

The 'computer' will tell them that you should pay £1200 (£600 each for gas and electricity)..........the amount you pay is only based on your actual previous 12 months use if you ask and get them to calculate.

I payed £275 after asking nicely. Of course if this runs out I'll have to top up.

After 7-10 days you'll get a letter confirming you are on the scheme. No tie-in, no contract.....you can still leave any time and you'll be paid back any money owed.

You get the DD discount (even though there is no DD), the dual-fuel discount, PLUS a further 5% off.

Chiddles

reduceditem wrote: »

[You get the DD discount (even though there is no DD), the dual-fuel discount, PLUS a further 5% off.

Thanks for the info. Not being tied in does seem appealing as i am sure they time their tie-in deals to expire just after they announce price increases. I have opted for this for now and will keep an eye on prices and other offers.

Do you think its actually cheaper than their Online Energy Saver 13? Also, how do you know you get the dual fuel discount as I cant see it in their product notes.

I cant actually find a pdf of the tarriff. I suspect the Scottish Power company rep is posting a URL that is only accessible from their internal network.

Chiddles

I emailed scottish power asking them for the tarriffs of both OES 13 and Pay In Advance. They cam back with this:
> Thank you for your email.
>
> We are unable to offer you Online Energy Saver 13 as it is is only offered to the new customers with ScottishPower.
>
> The unit prices for Gas & Electricity as per Pay In Advance package are as follows:
>
> Electricity Prices (Including VAT)
>
> Daily Service Charge - 15.83p
> Per Unit Price - 10.872p
>
> Gas Prices (Including VAT)
>
> Daily Service Charge - 24.30p
> Per Unit Price - 2.970p
>
> In order to view the best packages I would request you to please visit the link given below and make the appropriate selection as per your consumption pattern:
>
> http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/your-home/existing-customer/energy-products.aspx
>
> If you have further questions then you can use our online facility 24 hours a day available at https://www.scottishpower.co.uk via the Help link.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Rahul Raghav
> E-Contact Centre
> ScottishPower
> https://www.scottishpower.co.uk

So... OES13 not available to existing customers??? I emailed them straight back and said i was heading off to British Gas. They then came back and said

>I would like to inform you that we have introduced a quote facility on our website. This is a fantastic way for you to compare all of our current products, to see which one is the best for you.

>To access the link please click on the following link:
>
>- http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/your-home/existing-customer/energy-products.aspx
>
>I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Problem is, I tried their online quoting system and it a) doesnt populate the savings column so you dont know how much you would save by switching tarriff and b) says the cheapest tarrif is Online Discounted Energy March 2012 - No Standing Charge - Your prices will remain 2% below ScottishPower’s Standard monthly Direct Debit prices until 29th February 2012. Problem with this one is that it estimates my Bill at £874 using the same figures I gave before, about £75 more expensive than OES13.

reduceditem

Chiddles wrote: »

I emailed scottish power asking them for the tarriffs of both OES 13 and Pay In Advance. They cam back with this:
> Thank you for your email.
>
> We are unable to offer you Online Energy Saver 13 as it is is only offered to the new customers with ScottishPower.
>
> The unit prices for Gas & Electricity as per Pay In Advance package are as follows:
>
> Electricity Prices (Including VAT)
>
> Daily Service Charge - 15.83p
> Per Unit Price - 10.872p
>
> Gas Prices (Including VAT)
>
> Daily Service Charge - 24.30p
> Per Unit Price - 2.970p
>
> In order to view the best packages I would request you to please visit the link given below and make the appropriate selection as per your consumption pattern:
>
> http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/your-home/existing-customer/energy-products.aspx
>
> If you have further questions then you can use our online facility 24 hours a day available at www.scottishpower.co.uk via the Help link.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Rahul Raghav
> E-Contact Centre
> ScottishPower
> www.scottishpower.co.uk

So... OES13 not available to existing customers??? I emailed them straight back and said i was heading off to British Gas. They then came back and said

>I would like to inform you that we have introduced a quote facility on our website. This is a fantastic way for you to compare all of our current products, to see which one is the best for you.

>To access the link please click on the following link:
>
>- http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/your-home/existing-customer/energy-products.aspx
>
>I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Problem is, I tried their online quoting system and it a) doesnt populate the savings column so you dont know how much you would save by switching tarriff and b) says the cheapest tarrif is Online Discounted Energy March 2012 - No Standing Charge - Your prices will remain 2% below ScottishPower’s Standard monthly Direct Debit prices until 29th February 2012. Problem with this one is that it estimates my Bill at £874 using the same figures I gave before, about £75 more expensive than OES13.

Just for your own comparison and to help anyone else considering this, the rates SP have quoted you are unique to your account (i.e...you have the standing charge option, etc, so this just continues on with a 5% discount). I am on a no-standing charge option and this has continued on after I changed to Pay In Advance. Basically, nothing changes except you get an extra 5% off what your prervious rates were and you retain any extra discounts (pay monthly by dd/standing order, dual-fuel).

My rates on Pay In Advance are (including VAT and the 5% discount):

Electricity:

First 225 units per quarter.......17.39p
All units after that..................11.62p

Gas:

First 670 units per quarter........6.12p
All units after that...................2.9p


Those rates are exactly 5% below the: 'No standing charge option 'Premier Plus Package'---Pay monthly by direct debit or standing order. The unit rates are higher than yours but I don't pay any daily service standing charge.


Because I work away from my home a lot so the no standing charge option is great as I can have a bill of almost zero for periods when I'm away from the house.