Question about changing company

Reidy1982

Hello everyone

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advise.
I have been a customer with scottish power for about three years but over the since last year everytime i seem to get a bill its massive over the 300. I contracted them and tried to find out why it was coming in so high compared to previous years when it was no more than 150. They said with rising prices it was inevitable. I understand of the rising prices its happening all over but not by that much.
There only 2 people in the house, we live in a 2 apartment flat and its just (Myself and partner) and we are only in at night to use any electricity so i cant understand how i can be using nearly 300 a time now in electrcity.
I decided last year i would struggle to try and pay off the bill so i could change suppliers to help with saving money ~(maybe even go to the gas company i am with and get a dual discount) but just as i paid off the bill and another would come in and i tried again same thing happened. Its been vicious circle for the past year and obviously they say because i owe them a new bill they wont allow me to change suppliers. Can they do this???
Is there anyway i can change supplier and just ask scottish power if they can send me a final bill and i will pay it off in payments.
I have searched the net and i can not find any information if this is possible.
I wish i had the money to pay the bill off in one go so i could transfer to cheaper supplier but i cant as i am in a trust deed and i dont have the extra cash to pay it off in one go and scottish power have just raised my monthly payments from staggering 50 a month to 80. Meaning i am struggling even more.

Does anyone have any advise????

t0rt0ise

No, it's not possible to change suppliers if you have a debt with the current supplier. If you don't have a debt with the gas supplier, why not change that over to Scottish Power and change tariff to a dual fuel cheaper tariff.

Your post looks very strange and appears to be centred. Any chance of not doing that, it makes it difficult to read?

Reidy1982

erm sorry i always center my posts didnt realise it was making it a problem for reading sorry.

I'm quite happy with my gas company (With scottish gas and i only pay 40 a month and have been paying that since day one and it always put my bill in advance by time it comes in) and because scottish power seem to be charging me a fortune for electrcity i can only imagine what they would charge me for gas. so i really would rather avoid that route.

macman

Forget your bills in £'s, check your actual consumption in kWh. If your usage has gone up, then so will your bills, as well as with the huge unit price increases of the last couple of years.
First thing to tell us is what your annual electricity consumption is in kWh's-get this from your annual statement, bills or your supplier.
For a typical house with gas CH and DHW, £40 is unlikely to be sufficient even to cover ongoing usage, let alone any debt.
You need to get a handle on your actual usage first, without that you can't hope to control your bills.
A switch will be blocked if you have over £200 debt. In the meantime, are you on the cheapest SP tariff?
Hit the comp sites with your annual kWh figures and find out.

Premier_2

Reidy1982 wrote: »

Hello everyone

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advise.
I have been a customer with scottish power for about three years but over the since last year everytime i seem to get a bill its massive over the 300. I contracted them and tried to find out why it was coming in so high compared to previous years when it was no more than 150. They said with rising prices it was inevitable. I understand of the rising prices its happening all over but not by that much.
There only 2 people in the house, we live in a 2 apartment flat and its just (Myself and partner) and we are only in at night to use any electricity so i cant understand how i can be using nearly 300 a time now in electrcity.
I decided last year i would struggle to try and pay off the bill so i could change suppliers to help with saving money ~(maybe even go to the gas company i am with and get a dual discount) but just as i paid off the bill and another would come in and i tried again same thing happened. Its been vicious circle for the past year and obviously they say because i owe them a new bill they wont allow me to change suppliers. Can they do this???
Is there anyway i can change supplier and just ask scottish power if they can send me a final bill and i will pay it off in payments.
I have searched the net and i can not find any information if this is possible.
I wish i had the money to pay the bill off in one go so i could transfer to cheaper supplier but i cant as i am in a trust deed and i dont have the extra cash to pay it off in one go and scottish power have just raised my monthly payments from staggering 50 a month to 80. Meaning i am struggling even more.

Does anyone have any advise????

If you attempt to change supplier whilst there is an outstanding debt on the account, the current supplier will usually block any request.

When you do switch supplier, you are expected to pay the final amount promptly and in full.

Submit your own meter readings to ensure you are not being overcharged due to inaccurate estimated bills.

If you can't keep up with your current bills, then I'm not sure how you think you'll be able to pay a new supplier and pay off the old one at the same time. Consider getting a PPM fitted (where the supplier can reclaim the debt as part of the ongoing supply); if you don't and continue to be in arrears the supplier may tell you you're getting one whether you like it or not.

At least once you get yourself back in the black, you'll be able to switch supplier

Also, contact your supplier to ask advice on how to reduce your consumption as you are struggling to pay.