Scottish Power - am I being overcharged for pre paid key

Anic

I moved into a council house last October which has wet electric heating, the supplier was Scottish Power and the house had a pre paid key meter, the house is a 2 bed end terrace and since October last year we have paid on average £63 per week for electricty, we have raised this matter with Scottish Power in January and asked for a new meter to be installed, the engineer turned up and left again staing he couldnt change the meter as the existing meter was for gas and electric, I explain there was no gas in this area and then has spoken to Scottish Power again and again and no one is able to help us, we are struggling to make ends meet and cant afford to continue to live like this.... Surely this isnt right,

spiro

To my knowledge there is no such thing as a dual fuel ppm. Have you put the key in the meter and check the settings pence per unit, standing charge, any debt recovery rate?

jayjay2910

My girlfriend is having the same sort of problem, has a prepaid key meter in her 2 bed flat - she is on average putting around £60 per week on it, been in the flat for around 18 months and according to her key meter she has put on £5666 since she moved in.

Got her annual statement on the weekend, and they reckon her usuage between 29/11/10 - 1/03/11 -7213 units - 78.4 units per day on average they are saying 31.5 untis per day and last quarter was 76.14 units per day , and esitmate for the next 12 months her usage will be 14330 units

her & her 2 girls, both at school all day, only her at home daytimes, usual tv,pc,sky.

energy saving lightbulbs throughout the flat, hot water heater only switched on when needed, oiled filled heater in the girls room, and 3 storage heaters

Is this right or very excessive? she has phoned edf and they said based on her usage its right, but seems alot to me

any help would be grateful as it's killing her budget and really starting to worry her. and she is on edf prepayment ecomeny 7

spiro

jayjay2910 wrote: »

My girlfriend is having the same sort of problem, has a prepaid key meter in her 2 bed flat - she is on average putting around £60 per week on it, been in the flat for around 18 months and according to her key meter she has put on £5666 since she moved in.

Got her annual statement on the weekend, and they reckon her usuage between 29/11/10 - 1/03/11 -7213 units - 78.4 units per day on average they are saying 31.5 untis per day and last quarter was 76.14 units per day , and esitmate for the next 12 months her usage will be 14330 units

her & her 2 girls, both at school all day, only her at home daytimes, usual tv,pc,sky.

energy saving lightbulbs throughout the flat, hot water heater only switched on when needed, oiled filled heater in the girls room, and 3 storage heaters

Is this right or very excessive? she has phoned edf and they said based on her usage its right, but seems alot to me

any help would be grateful as it's killing her budget and really starting to worry her. and she is on edf prepayment ecomeny 7

She needs to remember that we have just come through the coldest winter on record so unless they have been walking around the house dressed lioke they are going outside hen yes, all elec is going to be expensive. Hot water and storage heaters should only be used at night during the cheaper period. Of the 7213 units how many are on the day rate and how many on the night rate (this is very important piece of information to be able to answer question)?

jayjay2910

thanks for the quick reply - dosen't say on her statement which are day rates night rate - i understand that after the winter we just had it will be higher than normal - as saw a few brass monkeys looking lost a few times

my question is really speaking should she be spending nearly £70/80 a week on her electric meter and when she put £10 on her key friday morning, by saturday afternoon she was down to £3 and had to put another £10, by 10.30pm sunday evening is was down again to £3.66 as i was down her and keeping an eye on it. so in the space of 3 days she had used £14 worth of elec!

spiro

jayjay2910 wrote: »

thanks for the quick reply - dosen't say on her statement which are day rates night rate - i understand that after the winter we just had it will be higher than normal - as saw a few brass monkeys looking lost a few times

On the statement it should show two lots of elec used one at day rate and one at night rate i.e. 1000 units at 9p and 2000 units at 13p.

Scottish_Power

Hi Anic

I would suggest giving us a call to review the payments that you have made since October last year and to also confirm exactly how much electricity you are using in kWhs. If an engineer has told you that he is unable to remove your electricity meter because it is for gas and electricity then this will be a first. There is no such thing as a dual fuel meter.

Have a look at the settings on the prepayment meter. Screens S and T will show you how much debt is on the meter and also how much is being pay per week towards the debt. If you do not have an outstanding balance that is being repaid, then the payments are for electricity alone and I am sure you will be able to review what is being used within the property to see if you can be more energy efficient.

If the property is all electric then you can expect to see large differences with the money you put into the meter over the colder winter months then when it is warmer during the summer months. If you know how much you are using over a period of 12-months, you may wish to look at adding a set amount into the meter each month which will spread your payments more evenly thorughout the year. This way you will build a credit on the meter over the summer months to help towards the higher winter consumption.

Hope the information provided is useful. If you have any questions please let me know and I will be happy to help. If you want me to review your electricity consumption then send me an email to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I will investigate the account for you and provide you with all the information you need.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

jayjay2910

have now posted my query in a new thread rather than hijack this one