Scottish Power Pre-Pay NSC

beabea81

A Scottish Power Salesman came to my door and I signed up for both Gas and Electricity as a Pre-Pay customer primarily on the strength that there were No Standing Charges (NSC) for Gas and Electricity and he showed me figures showing how much cheaper than BG they were (we'll forgive them the fact that between sign up and switch over they had hiked their prices!). I know I shouldn't have taken a salesmans word for it and I know I should have shut the door and done the comparisons my self but IRL I'm a complete schlep and a very nervous person (not just IRL for that matter, have been know to run away from the laptop when people on forums have shouted at me and refused to look at the thread again! I had a breakdown last year and do have some depression/anxiety/nervous issues but it's no excuse I know!)

I had my statement out today because I was looking for their number so I could ask them about changing from pre-pay to credit meter (they want £403 - £300 of which is a security deposit- to change them over!) and I see that I am being charged 21.63p per day standing charge. A look at their website under 'Prepayment/No Service Charge' confirmed it http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/support-centre/payments/prepayment/no-standing-charge.aspx. I called them back and asked about my NSC and was told that ALL pre-pay customers pay standing charges, I told her about the salesman and the website and was told that she had raised a complaint about the field rep and informed the web team about the error online.

I know I should have known that NSC for pre-pay was too good to be true and I should have asked about it earlier. do you think I could wangle a reduction in meter replacement costs for my 'inconvenience'? Or is that just really cheeky?

I spoke to BG today and they told me they wouldn't charge anything but there is a credit check, although I have no energy debts at all I do have a poor credit rating..... there's no way they'd let me have credit meters is there? I don't want to change over only to be stuck with them as I'm aware there may be a price increase soon?

Many thanks for help in advance x

beabea81

btw... I put £1500 a year into the meters and using my statments to estimate yearly cost with credit meters on uswitch shows it would cost up to £600 a year...a £900 saving!

beabea81

I hate bumping things but I know they can get buried quickly.

Anyone got any advice?

Scottish_Power

Hi beabea81,

We do offer a no standign charge options for prepayment customers in some areas, your meter would still charge you a standing charge however when we calculate your statement we do this on a no standing charge tariff, so if it works out cheaper for you your account would have a small credit balance which could then be added to the meter.

If you wish to e-mail me your details I can have a look at this for you and see what I can do.

My e-mail address is [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Kind regards

Graeme @ Scottish Power

beabea81

Emailed yesterday but it was returned as incorrect address.