Scottish Power are driving me nuts

mrs_sparrow

I had an email from EDF telling me they were putting the amounts up by £81 a month to £195 to pay back the £240 they had underestimated. I just sent an email to customer services saying that 'they would get their money back over the summer months when our bill went down to around £10 a week and that if they did not put my DD back down to £114 a month and that if they took the payment of £195 I would simply be switching suppliers'. I then got a reply apologising for the 'mix up' and my DD would be amended to £114 a month from immediate effect.

No rows, discussions or arguments. Speak with your feet. They are all as bad as each other tho - SP however, were the worst and were always amending it. When we switched they ended up having to repay us £300!!

t0rt0ise

Thank you Mrs_Sparrow. Speaking with your feet is expensive in these days of fines for leaving before a certain length of time. And the idea of paying by DD was sold to us by telling us how convenient it would be to pay the same sum each month during the year. Doesn't quite work like that does it, and keep on getting the DD put back down is boring.

Thanks Backfoot. That leaflet is useful and tells me that I should go with one of the companies that only looks at the DD once a year. It seems to me that that was how we were sold the whole DD system but companies like SP have changed the rules so that it is no longer convenient to the customer.

I would also like to know the answer to Backfoot's question to the rep:

"Can the SP Reps tell us what the actual policy is and whether it matches the Ofgem Factsheet?"

jalexa

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Thanks Backfoot. That leaflet is useful and tells me that I should go with one of the companies that only looks at the DD once a year.

First of all you ask a very good question of the SP rep. I predict no response but then that is only a prediction.

Regarding the Ofgem guide, first you need to find out if it is worth the paper it is printed on. First of all its dated and secondly there is a caveat to check the current situation with each supplier. When I sought to rely on the guide wrt Edf, first backfoot and then Ofgem pointed that caveat out. Backfoot was being helpful (I think), Ofgem were making their excuses.

Take Edf for example, the guide says "anniversary" but common practice can make 12 months 9 months. Take NPower for example, you can fall foul of seasonal weighting. The reality is the suppliers cite Ofgem regulations as justification for their practices. The same Ofgem that produced the guide.

So ask your question of the SP rep and test your treatment against the response, or if no response test your treatment against the guide. Using, if necessary, the complaints procedure.

Although my experience is a few years dated, Scottish Power have been one of the few suppliers able to explain a DD calculation on request though it is a regulatory requirement of all suppliers. If your quarterly calculation is consistently causing a change (up) it is not impossible the change is correct. Alternatively the annual consumption projection they have could be wrong. Ask for the explanation.

backfoot

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/support-centre/payments/direct-debit-explained.aspx

SP's website explanation accords with the Ofgem leaflet, as far as I can see.

It doesn't talk about a rolling 12 month period but does indicate that the quarterly reviews will take into account latest consumption.

The explanation also confirms an annual review after 12 months.

The consistency of the description was not supported by own experience which was a target date of less than 12 months and some totally mysterious estimates of my gas consumption. By chance the two things offset each other such that the revised Direct Debit was about right. An advisor promised to look into it for me and said they would ring me back. I have waited in diligently ever since but he never rang back, so I assume he is still investigating it some two months later.:D


I would hazard a guess that the OP has been given verbal advice by the SP advisors which hasn't been precise enough. I think they may simply be saying that the quarterly data has updated the overall annual assessment rather than it actually being a rolling 12 month calculation. There is a small difference.

What the OP has found is that by doing such frequent reviews the DD values flit about and are influenced by short term weather and consumption patterns. Like the OP, I feel that this defeats the objective of a regular fixed amount which many of us like to budget for.

In this case, I would be tempted not to input readings but just keep track yourself and therefore there will be little data for SP to trigger changes to DD values.

As an aside, I am pretty certain,that Jalexa could have dropped the 'bracketed (I think)', when I offered helpful advice. Don't I always?...:)

Anyway, SP should now have the OP's account details and they can advise him and us what has happened.

Scottish_Power

Hi t0rt0ise,

I understand the issue of direct debits can be frustrating, the aim is to get it right and predict the annual usage based on previous historical reads. As we all know this is an indicator and is not an exact science. The main issues we have is that there are factors like weather changes, changes within your own home from less or more occupants to additional appliances which may replace a less efficient model or an appliance you no longer use.

As a supplier we need to check your usage on a quarterly basis and if the direct debit requires to be altered we will inform you of this by producing a bill and detailing on the bill any changes. On this bill it will clearly state if the direct debit needs to be altered. As a customer you need to check this by comparing the readings used against you meter. If you think this is incorrect you are required to contact your supplier with a meter reading to manually review your payments.

I am sorry if you have been given misleading information that your direct debit would only be checked at the full annual review date. There is specific date attached to your account when we do a full annual review and this may have caused confusion. Along with this annual review we will review your account on a quarterly basis, if any alterations are required we will let you know otherwise we will not change your payments amount until the review date and then only if this is necessary. We try very hard to set the direct debit as closely as possible to match the customers consumption so changes are kept to a minimum allowing the customer to budget.

I would be more than happy to check your account and the readings held for you please e-mail me your account details and I will take a look.

backfoot

Why would SP alter the Anniversary date ?

Is there an undisclosed policy of advancing the date?

As the Call Centre Advisor hasn't answered this, could the SP Rep, please.

t0rt0ise

To the rep,

What is a 'full annual review' and how does it differ from the quarterly reviews?

I have had two quarterly reviews and both talk about my use over the next 12 months and then divide the amount by 12. So what has happened to the annual review date? It appears to be a rolling date.

This time they wanted to put the amount up to £126. When I queried it I was given the sums and the amount was suddenly £114 although they calcuate my annual use as being £97 a month. This makes no sense at all. If I do owe enough to have to pay £114 then their annual calculation is too low and the £97 is a nonsense. But they have etimated my use for the last three months so their estimate for three months doesn't agree wtih their estimate for the whole 12 months. But in order for me to makes sense of this and compare with previous years, I need kwh and not pounds.

jalexa

t0rt0ise wrote: »

This time they wanted to put the amount up to £126. When I queried it I was given the sums and the amount was suddenly £114 although they calcuate my annual use as being £97 a month. This makes no sense at all.

Are you saying the "calculation" changed or just the result? There is no excuse for the calculation being wrong but it is possible for the calculation to be correct but the result to be wrong because of "garbage in" data.

I agree with your point that "to make sense of this and compare with previous years, I need kwh and not pounds" but the presentation of future use as £££s is a regulatory issue, not a supplier issue, though it has to be based on previous annual consumption in kWhrs. Are you saying the calculation explanation does not specify your previous annual kWhrs?

In your latest calculation the most recent reading being an estimate is a red herring. The energy use calculation is done on the estimate "as actual". If you want a more accurate bill submit a customer reading immediately following the bill (as advised by the Scottish Power rep).

There is a lot more help and advice available here if you post the data from the DD calculation.

Scottish_Power

Good morning,

The annual review date does not change unless you come off the direct debit package and then back on a different date as this will give you a new annual review date. When we do an interim review we always review over the next 12 months so that we do not expect customers to clear their full balance over whatever period remains until the review date. If the annual review date is in September and we carry out an interim review in June we would calculate the direct debit until next June rather than over three months to September.

The annual review date would remain unchanged. To clarify if everything is going well with the account and the interim checks show you are paying the correct amount we will not issue you a bill until the annual review date or change your payment until the date of your full review. If your account is on track you will not hear from ScottishPower.

If anyone is worried about the current payments they are making and why they are receiving reassessments please e-mail me your details along with up to date meter readings to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I would be happy to check if you are on track.

Thanks Marie@ScottishPower

Beverley_Bill

I have a "friend," No really. He has just brought me some SP bills and he is beside himself with worry. For the past 8 or 9 years he has had a prepayment meter after running up a large debt, (SP at fault there too)

Due to the competition in the market and the advice from this site etc, he changed vendors to BG for both supplies. In the recent days, "several" final demands have dropped through the letterbox demanding an extortionate amount of money.

At the beginning of the last billing period, his account was in credit to the tune of some £80, now he has a final reminder for an unpaid account. After 9 years of repaying a debt and lighting his home. the arrears were long paid off

How can this be?

He is sat here with me at the moment and given me permission to post this.

There is also a disability issue, although a bill is a bill and as a full time carer for his wife, he is obviously worried