Are Scottish Power Shafting me !!!!

LolaBoo_2

I was with Eon, my monthly dual fuel was £160 a month after doing several price comparisons it worked out if I switched to Scottish Power I would save £252 a year as it was reduced to £139 for the same readings. (Price comparison)
Great I thought, now 3 months into my contract with Scottish power they have now sent me an email

As you know, we regularly review your account to make sure that you pay the right amount for the energy you use. This review shows that your current payments will not cover your usage.

To avoid you building up a debt, we have revised the amount you pay monthly by Direct Debit to £178.00.

You do not have to take action. The new payment will be collected automatically from your bank account on or around 01 March 2012.

There can be a number of reasons why your Direct Debit payment has to change.

- If you were affected by our 1st August 2011 price increase then your payments may have been changed to reflect the new prices. Please note: Capped and Fixed products were excluded from this price increase.
- Your energy consumption has changed. (E.g. new appliances or a different number of occupants).
- We may have estimated your energy use in the past.

which is an increase on my old supplier of £216 pa. There are the same people living in my house, we have the same appliances etc etc. Is this a common tactic with suppliers? Is there a way I can now change suppliers without incurring an early release fee due to this?
I had signed up because it was cheaper, now my old supplier has released price cuts and I am paying more than before. I do regular meter readings (monthly) both on my old an new supplier.

I do feel cheated ....

freshstart11

did you enter your usage or monthly payments in the comparrison? Are your latest bills actual readings?

jalexa

LolaBoo wrote: »

Are Scottish Power Shafting me !!!!

Do you mean is the payment calculation accurate?

That depends on a range of factors, principally assumptions on annual consumption, the most recent actual readings and date, your tariff, the "annual review" date (should be your supply anniverary), how many payments made and the account balance at the time of the review.

If you genuinely want opinions post the above information. Or were you just letting off steam !!!!

LolaBoo_2

Here is what I don't understand.

i) When I went on several price comparison sites I entered the actual amount I had used for the previous year, which was split over the 12 months of payments which was equal to 12 monthly instalments of £160

ii) Using the comparison sites I was lead to believe that if I switched to Scottish Power my tariff for the same units over the 12 months used would equate to £139, a saving of £252. Which I was happy with and decided to do. (It was a fixed rate for the 12 months)

iii) I am now told my consumption would equate to a monthly tariff of £178 and subsequently my DD will be raised accordingly. Which a raise of £216 on my previous suppliers quote (before the cuts they announced)

If they are saying I am going to be paying more for the same usage as my previous supplier who when I swapped to them last year charged me a continual £160 a month then that isn't what I was lead to belive when I was told I would be making saving on my monthly DD

macman

LolaBoo wrote: »

Here is what I don't understand.

i) When I went on several price comparison sites I entered the actual amount I had used for the previous year, which was split over the 12 months of payments which was equal to 12 monthly instalments of £160

ii) Using the comparison sites I was lead to believe that if I switched to Scottish Power my tariff for the same units over the 12 months used would equate to £139, a saving of £252. Which I was happy with and decided to do. (It was a fixed rate for the 12 months)

iii) I am now told my consumption would equate to a monthly tariff of £178 and subsequently my DD will be raised accordingly. Which a raise of £216 on my previous suppliers quote (before the cuts they announced)

If they are saying I am going to be paying more for the same usage as my previous supplier who when I swapped to them last year charged me a continual £160 a month then that isn't what I was lead to belive when I was told I would be making saving on my monthly DD

Sorry, but did you enter annual kWh usage on the comp site, or £ monthly DD amounts? The latter does not give accurate results.
Re the price increases, what was the actual date of your switch?

jalexa

LolaBoo wrote: »

Here is what I don't understand.

You may (or may not) have a point. But to get meaningful help you need to post the information I mentioned in my previous post.

t0rt0ise

The new supplier is just guessing what your usage might be. If you don't agree that you are going to use that much then call them and say you want the DD to be lower. They usually agree if you are politely forceful.

LolaBoo_2

Hi again, its the feeling you get when you are offered something and then the rules are changed and leaves you with the feeling of 'This is going to be a hassle....'

As to your previous question it was the annual kWh usage that I had put in, the only thing I can think of is because of the last couple of months being peak times they are looking at my usage and because it is exceeds what is being paid out they are out of pocket for the moment so want that excess now. As the next few months the usage lowers it evens out they would rather be in credit and me chasing for credit than me owing and them chasing.
I'll phone them tomorrow.

macman

True, if you only switched in November then you will not have built any winter credit.

jalexa

LolaBoo wrote: »

the only thing I can think of is because of the last couple of months being peak times they are looking at my usage and because it is exceeds what is being paid out they are out of pocket for the moment so want that excess now.

That is *possible*, however according to the Ofgem table Scottish Power perform an "anniversary" calculation. There should be no need to build up a winter credit just as long as the projected consumption (for the full year) is consistent with the payment average.

The information you need from Scottish Power is the date of the next annual review and their assumption for your annual consumption. If that differs from the annual consumption figure you compared on you need to find out why.

agedgolfer

I went through this process last year and, after failing to get Scottish Power to agree with me that I didn't need to pay any more per month, I ended up well over £100 in credit. They have now offered to reduce my monthly payments.

Now we have another problem. National Grid Gas changed our meter eight days ago. They said it was a routine replacement as the previous meter had been in use for 20 years, ever since the house was built.

We have kept a log of meter readings since before the severe winter of 2010-11. The highest daily gas consumption figure we have ever recorded is 3 units per day in the depths of last winter's record low temperatures.

The first reading we have taken since the meter change indicates that we have used 7 units per day! This just cannot be right, as our pattern of consumption hasn't changed, but Scottish Power says we have to monitor it for another week and give them another reading. I anticipate a major battle looming - does anyone know what weapons are at my disposal? I don't think the meter can be leaking, or we would smell it, but that would seem to be the only answer.