Scottish Power - have I made a HUGE mistake?

matahari_2

As you can see I am a beginner in here so please forgive me if this subject has been touched on before.

Taking courage in both hands and doing what I thought was good homework, although I am really not very good where figures are concerned, I have started a changeover from British Gas/EDF to a combined fuel internet account with Scottish Power. My EDF final meter reading will be on Feb 21st. I have no information from the other two parties as yet.

Tonight I have been asking in a couple of forums about the price drop by British Gas, and several people have mentioned Scottish Power and described nightmares with them.

So I then started looking for reviews, most of which were dreadful and I am now sitting here wondering what on earth I have done.

Is Scottish Power really that terrible? And what can I do? Simply making the move took all my courage. I'm a retired woman on a low fixed income, I can't afford to be ripped off.

aleese

I moved to Scottish Power last year. Since then i love it. I generate my bills every month and then see exactly how much gas & elec are costing me. More suppliers should allow this facility.

Andrew.

[Deleted User]

I moved to sp last year and I think they are really good. The cs staff answer the phone quickly and are very helpful. I input readings myself on a monthly basis and get an instant bill so I can see the way cost is going. They have a useful graphical facility so I can compare cost from month to month. I move the direct debit up or down easily, it only takes a quick call. I believe that sp is one of the cheapest providers for me.

All in all I am very satisfied indeed

matahari_2

Thank you, I really needed to hear something positive. I would like to hear some more opinions please, good and bad.

This is the first time I have ever changed my supplier!

broxis11

Scottish Power are bringing their prices down and they will be cheaper than BG. Expect an announcement next week.

sallysaver

Hi,
I too joined Scottish Power last November after declining Staywarms 40% increase. I must say when I heard BG announcement that they were reducing their payments, I was disheartened, but then I thought, I'm sure the other suppliers will follow suit and whilst its early days I'm sure this will happen.(see Broxis post above) As far as SP are concerned, I have spoken to 2 agents recently about a meter issue and they have both been extremely professional and more importantly, really helpful. I don't think you need to panic at all. Regards - sally

CopperPlate_2

I've just moved to SP from Scottish Hydro (Gas) and Good Energy (Elec) and I've heard only good reports from friends and family who have moved to them. They were a bit expensive at one point last year but I think the others have since overtaken them on price. I'm amazed at the low standing charge for the online dual fuel and the unit prices are still cheaper than the others. I'll give them a go, and if they're crap I'll move on. It's still easy to move to use Uswitch or another similar facility so if it's now working out, you know that's easy to do.

Loster

We have been with SP for half a year now and they are pretty good. The bills are on time and seemingly accurate. When I've spoken to customer services they've been fine. They are not the cheapest however.....

Have a look on the Energywatch website here:

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/help_and_advice/saving_money/index.asp

enter your fuel, area info etc... and the next page gives you a lovely price comparison of all the major suppliers, AND, very coolly, a link to a PDF document that tells you the full price comparisons for the suppliers and their ratings in terms of customer service. If, like me, you live in the Norweb area then this is the PDF for you (so very instructive it is):

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/uploads/Norweb_Price_Comparison_Standard_February_2007.pdf

Energywatch is brilliant indeed. We can see from this that Scottishpower is only mildly competitive while the online version does much better. Notice how Scottishpower only gets two stars (of five) for customer service. That's two stars above BG but not brilliant in itself.

On the other hand, if you look at both the customer service rating and the pricings for 'Scottish and Southern Energy Group' (not to be confused with SP), you will see they do remarkably well in both (five/five for customer service AND lowest prices in many categories - can't go wrong).

If you want further confirmation of Scottish & Southern's superiority, look here:

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/uploads/All_Domestic_Complaints_October_2006.pdf

So, I would recommend these boys over SP any day, and I would recommend you get at their great service and their cheap prices through this absolutely brilliant reseller:

http://www.ebico.co.uk

Not for profit.
Resellers of the top rated Scottish & Southern.
Single tariffs for all, no standing charges.
Plus they have an 'Equiclimate' option - save the earth too by helping them retire emissions trading certificates.

I worked out recently I could be saving about £180 quid a year by switching to these from SP... and so that's what I'm in the process of doing... I can't believe it really. That a better energy supplier (well, reseller) is actually also cheaper. When you see that they are not-for-profit and all of the other energy companies have greedy shareholders to pay... the reason for the price difference becomes obvious.

EBICo (and Scottish & Southern) all the way!

Phew. Hope this helps.
Maybe I should make this a thread. Many others on here know this info too though I imagine. EBICo is certainly talked of highly from what I've seen.

So, in sum:
SP 0
EBICo 1

matahari_2

A friend of mine has reminded me that I belong to a Union and Union Energy is connected with Scottish Power. Does anyone have any opinions about it? Would it be cheaper? You never see Union Energy in the comparison tables.

broxis11

I work in sales in Scotland and have only came across this once and that was about 4 or 5 years ago!

JohalaReewi

Switched to Scottish Power from BG. SP reply to emails, answer the phone, and the website works. Thumbs up from me.