Scottish Power - Discounted Energy August 2011 Online ? Advice Required

chaotic_j

Hi,

Very confused with gas/electricity, hoping that someone may be able to advise us please.

I've read about the recent Scottish Power increase announcement here on MSE.

We are with Scottish Power for both gas and electricity on the "Discounted Energy August 2011 Online" tarrif.

I've checked on their website and apparently as my tarrif is coming to an end soon it isn't affected and Scottish Power have "special deals" coming soon for customers like me?

I've gone on the comparison websites and the best fixed deal coming up is EDF Fixed [EMAIL="S@ver"]S@ver[/EMAIL] 2 saying that I'll save money circa £170 and the prices will be fixed until September 2012.

However I've checked the T&C's for the Scottish Power Discounted Energy August 2011 Online and it says that if you cancel or switch to another provider before July 31st 2011 then you may be charged a fee for each service you have with them.

Since they are saying my prices aren't affected by their increase if I switch now will I be hit by these fees?

Our area is 16 i.e. NORWEB, and approx. annual useage is 10680 kWh gas and 4650 kWh electricity, although these figures may go up over the course of the next year. I tried adding 25% on and the EDF Fixed [EMAIL="S@ver"]S@ver[/EMAIL] 2 was still coming up top.

Your thoughts please? Thank you in advance.

Swipe

The only way to be certain is to phone them and ask. I'd hazard a guess though that there will be an exit fee if no price increases have been announced for that product.

C_Mababejive

I wonder if they can apply the exit fee if you dont sign a new contract, i.e you simply migrate from for eg OES 10 to OES 11 by verbal agreement on the phone?

EDIT just had email giving t&cs and you can switch before increase with no penalty if you give the required notice.

chaotic_j

Just in case anyone was monitoring this thread I thought I would make an update.

I actually received a letter in the post this week informing me of the forthcoming Scottish Power August 2011 price increases.

Hidden away on the rear of the letter it stated that you could cancel your agreement and switch to another supplier and if they receive the request from your new supplier within 15 working days they will not apply their price increase.

Anyway to cut a long story short I emailed Scottish Power requesting clarification as to whether that means I wouldn't have to pay any cancellation charges and no reply was received so I telephoned them.

You just need to call them first and let them know of your intention to change supplier, then they can "raise a work item", then you simply go and switch and won't have to pay any cancellation charges when the switch has gone through in 6-8 weeks time.

I hope that this helps someone, the process so far seems relatively straightforward. I went for the EDF Energy Fixed [EMAIL="S@ver"]S@ver[/EMAIL] v2, unfortunately the website offering £40 cashback said you couldn't apply online, and if you used the telephone service you wouldn't get any cashback so I applied through BeatThatQuote.com and hopefully will receive £35 cashback promised.