Scottish Power and Switching

mmctear

Hi all,

I'm quite new to bills as I've just graduated from uni and now have my first flat.

I switched from EDF back no in February as I did a price comparison that said Scottish Power were the cheapest. Now with the news that they've increased prices, they've sent me an email saying that if I don't accept the terms of conditions with them I can contacted them and cancel.

Can I do this by just switching by Uswitch etc? Or do I first have to inform that I will be switching to make sure I don't get charged?

I also wanted a slight bit of reassurance that going fixed was the best option? I've done another comparison and a fixed deal came second (npower - I've heard many people dislike them).

Thank you all for your comments

M

A._Badger

'Dislike' would be far too mild a term for my opinion of npower. Indeed, I've just run the comparisons on my own energy costs and though npower were the cheapest potential supplier by some margin I would not, for an instant, dream of going back to them.

There is a reason why even the bland customer ratings shown on the energy comparison sites for npower are as they are.

Premier_2

mmctear wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm quite new to bills as I've just graduated from uni and now have my first flat.

I switched from EDF back no in February as I did a price comparison that said Scottish Power were the cheapest. Now with the news that they've increased prices, they've sent me an email saying that if I don't accept the terms of conditions with them I can contacted them and cancel.

Can I do this by just switching by Uswitch etc? Or do I first have to inform that I will be switching to make sure I don't get charged?

...

You should follow the terms they gave you. i.e. give notice that you intend to switch.You can instruct the new supplier via uswitch (or other site) if you wish.

A._Badger

Premier wrote: »

You should follow the terms they gave you. i.e. give notice that you intend to switch.You can instruct the new supplier via uswitch (or other site) if you wish.

This is untrue.

The following is a cut and paste from the e-mail I received from SP:

"If you notify us that you wish to cancel your agreement before 1st August 2011 and we receive a request for your supply from another supplier within 15 working days, we will not apply the price increase or the cancellation fee for your product. If you have an outstanding debt, we may object to your supply leaving us, but we will give you time to pay the debt and leave us without incurring the increased prices."

Notice the magic word 'and'.

Clearly, notification that one intends to move is insufficient. SP are demanding that the company to which one is switching notifies them too.

Good luck to anyone deciding to move to npower!

Premier_2

A._Badger wrote: »

This is untrue.

The following is a cut and paste from the e-mail I received from SP:

"If you notify us that you wish to cancel your agreement before 1st August 2011 and we receive a request for your supply from another supplier within 15 working days, we will not apply the price increase or the cancellation fee for your product. If you have an outstanding debt, we may object to your supply leaving us, but we will give you time to pay the debt and leave us without incurring the increased prices."

Notice the magic word 'and'.

Clearly, notification that one intends to move is insufficient. SP are demanding that the company to which one is switching notifies them too.

Good luck to anyone deciding to move to npower!

What exactly is untrue? :huh:

I said you need to give notice ... and you quote "If you notify us ..."

Of course you need to instruct a new supplier to take over the supply; I didn't say otherwise. All I said was there is nothing preventing that being done by a third party site such as a comparison or cashback site.
The new supplier then needs to contact the old supplier. That is quite usual. How do you think the energy switching system would work otherwise?

The question from the OP was can they just switch via uSwitch (i.e. by informing the new supplier only) and hope to avoid the early exit fee. That would not be correct, hence the advice I gave.

Rather than just trying to pick holes in what I post, (I refer to your previous post here too) why not try spend a bit more effort reading the question the OP raises and then see how the advice given relates to that
Note that the OP said they received the email, and referred to the section offering to waive the early exit fee, so I didn't think simply copying & pasting it would help the OP.

prosaver

i was with sp and transfered to .... sp .Online Fixed Price Energy January 2015 (No Standing Charge
which is alittle bit more expensive than my increase but......... its fixed for 4 years...
As jim bowen would say he gone for the gamble (bullseye)

george1939

mmctear wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm quite new to bills as I've just graduated from uni and now have my first flat.

I switched from EDF back no in February as I did a price comparison that said Scottish Power were the cheapest. Now with the news that they've increased prices, they've sent me an email saying that if I don't accept the terms of conditions with them I can contacted them and cancel.

Can I do this by just switching by Uswitch etc? Or do I first have to inform that I will be switching to make sure I don't get charged?

I also wanted a slight bit of reassurance that going fixed was the best option? I've done another comparison and a fixed deal came second (npower - I've heard many people dislike them).

Thank you all for your comments

M

Your words ::I've done another comparison and a fixed deal came second (npower - I've heard many people dislike them).::

also on top of being 2nd They become [first] because after 12 direct debits they give you £105 can't be bad

A._Badger

Premier wrote: »

What exactly is untrue? :huh:

I said you need to give notice ... and you quote "If you notify us ..."

Your reply to the OP, who is inter alia, trying to avoid the charge for leaving was misleading.

Let me try again. Slowly, this time.

You said that the customer wishing leave has to give notice to SP. Here, once again are the exact words you wrote.

"You should follow the terms they gave you. i.e. give notice that you intend to switch.You can instruct the new supplier via uswitch (or other site) if you wish."

But clearly this is not sufficient to avoid a penalty as SP demands that the new supplier contacts it within 15 days.

In other worse, the 'give notice that you intend to switch' will achieve nothing unless the new company complies with SP's arbitrary 15 day requirement. A requirement which the customer can do nothing to control or even influence.