Scottish power-will they increase my DD

lemonpopsicle

Hi,
I read my meter and enter the reading online weekly to SP but have noticed today that I am £80 in debit to them. I pay £88 a month by DD will they increase my payments or are customers allowed to have a higher debit. I don't want them to increase the payments as we are already in fuel poverty:(

mazza111

They usually check it once a year. Remember you will have lower bills in the summer months. When did you start with your DD to them. Has your usage been the same as usual etc etc.

lemonpopsicle

We started with them in August, so haven't really had time to build up a pot. We are VERY careful with the central heating (in fact we haven't yet put it on the timer, just for the odd 1 or 2 hours!), we light our woodburner every evening instead. Thanks for your reply.

jalexa

lemonpopsicle wrote: »

We started with them in August, so haven't really had time to build up a pot. We are VERY careful with the central heating (in fact we haven't yet put it on the timer, just for the odd 1 or 2 hours!)

Do you mean "the odd 1 or 2 hours" per day? In that case something doesn't add up. Assuming the central heating is gas, is the £88/month for gas and electricity?

How much gas and electric (kWhrs please) have you used since you started in August? How much in the last week?

colin13

£8 is nothing,,it gets checked once a year,,this year they put mine £8 a month down,,dont worry about it,,as someone said,,you will build up credit in the summer

lemonpopsicle

jalexa wrote: »

Do you mean "the odd 1 or 2 hours" per day? In that case something doesn't add up. Assuming the central heating is gas, is the £88/month for gas and electricity?

How much gas and electric (kWhrs please) have you used since you started in August? How much in the last week?

Hi, no I mean the odd 1 or 2 hours a week.The £88 is for gas and electricity combined. We have used £15 electricity and £8 of gas in the last week.
Thanks for replying.

jalexa

lemonpopsicle wrote: »

Hi, no I mean the odd 1 or 2 hours a week.The £88 is for gas and electricity combined. We have used £15 electricity and £8 of gas in the last week.

OK, here's a tip. Instead of submitting weekly readings, submit a single monthly reading just after the DD has been paid. That way you avoid the appearance of being one month behind.

Regarding the usage, something still doesn't add up. £8 of gas is over 200kWhrs, much more than 2 hours of central heating. £15 of electricity is getting on for twice annual average. Since electricity costs about x4 gas, there are bigger savings from reducing electricity use.

On the face of it you may not be being as careful as you think.

I suggest you eliminate an imperial/metric gas meter mix-up.

lemonpopsicle

Hi the gas heats the water for an hour a day approx too, we are a family of 4, including 2 teenagers, I use the washing machine and cooker at least once a day and the dishwasher every other day. This last week our usage has gone up to 119kWh from around 95 kWh, I think this might be because we have been using a steam wallpaper stripper. Is 95 kWh a bit more reasonable?
Thanks for the advice about inputting the readings monthly just after the DD has gone out, that's a really good idea.:)

jalexa

lemonpopsicle wrote: »

Is 95 kWh a bit more reasonable?

Well averages are just that and every circumstance is different, but even 95kWhrs/week is 50% above "average".:eek:

Given that you are "VERY" careful, at least with the central heating, (and money is tight) it suggests there might be scope for reducing your electric consumption.

Scottish_Power

Hi lemonpopsicle,

If you only started with us in August it is unlikely that we will increase you monthly payment at this time. However, if you receive notification that we intend to e-mail me with your details to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I will see if I can do anything to help.

Kind regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower

lemonpopsicle

Thanks guys, I never realised that we were higher than average users of electricity, I will have a check to make sure appliances are turned off, particularly games consoles and tvs etc. I'll have to get the family on board too.