Scottish Power are driving me nuts

Terrylw1

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi t0rt0ise,

I will answer the question regarding the meter location, the meter as you know needs to be located at the cable head and this is decided when the property is built, this is not decided by any supplier. The supplier can on the customers behalf approach the Meter Operator in your area and ask the question if they will move it for you.

Some Meter Operators will do this type of work for free as long as it does not exceed three foot, these terms are decided by the meter operator and cannot be influenced by any supplier.

I will say that if this cabling has to be moved any great distance this can be quiet expensive involving surveys etc.

Actually, a Meter Operator charges the same fee for this as any job they do for a supplier unless the supplier has negotiated tiered contracts based on job type.

The Meter Operator never does a job free, they send you an invoice to cover their engineers time & other costs. Its completely your choice as the supplier whether you pass that cost on.

Its been this way since deregulation.

In terms of moving the meter, the Meter Operator needs enough service cable to work with. If there isn't enough, it can't be done by them and it requires the distributor to resite the cable/cut out and the supplier arrange for the Meter Operator to refit the meter since distribution engineers don't keep themselves up to date for all types of metering.

Terrylw1

jalexa wrote: »

My understanding is that regulations on location suitability (or unsuitability) do not have retrospective effect. If the then network operator considered the location satisfactory then it is "satisfactory" assuming householders have not undertaken building operations which have impacted on meter access.

Did I get that right and also that your directly employed meter readers are subject to health and safety considerations which "discourage" "stretching beyond the top of a step ladder"?

That's correct, which is why no one is spending many millions resisting meters...including mine which is just below the ceiling!

The SP rep has also not mentioned that via the PSR they have to arrange free meter reading but resite the meter FOC if a PPM is out of reach of someone who is infirm. Since this isn't a PPM, that ain't gonna happen and they only need read it per this SLC if the OP goes on the PSR.

In terms of meter readers, their is a data item that can cover this so they know before they even go out. So, they can make provisions. Ladder required is one such status. I don't think I've ever heard of a meter reader taking a step ladder or larger though...;):D

backfoot

We have some confusion with Scottish Power and Direct Debits. To help unravel it can the SP rep answer the following please:

1. Ofgem's Factsheet on Direct Debits states, that the time of year that the account should balance will be on the anniversary of the account.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Media/FactSheets/Documents1/directdebitleaflet.pdf

Presumably the information was given to Ofgem by SP.

Is this information correct or not?

2. If it isn't correct, when did SP change their policy?

3. Is the new policy a rolling 12 month estimate with a zero balance 12 months ahead of any quarterly review?

4.. SP's explanation of the Direct Debit Calculation is here :

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

Do SP think that this accurately reflects their current policy?

5. Do all customers get an annual review. Does it result in documentation or only when a change is proposed? Is it produced on the contract anniversary date?

6. Is the annual review the same thing as a quarterly review? If not,what are the differences?

7. What are the parameters following the quarterly review which trigger an amended DD ? e.g.1%, 5%,10% ?

8. When is the Annual Energy Statement produced by SP? How is it provided to the customer?

9.Is the Kwh consumption data in the Annual Energy Statement the same as that used to derive the DD calculation for the Annual Review?

Hopefully, these simple questions will help clarify SP's policy.

Many thanks.

Richie-from-the-Boro

The best and quickest way to forward find what your actual and predicted costs will be, would be to :

- ask a rep here or just log into your account for a free 'callback' when you establish a human contact simply ask what your CAC is for the next year.

Acronym .. .. CAC and stands for Calculated Annual Consumption, its instant information at the end of a phone call on everyone's account - use it ! .. .. they wont give you it unless you ask .. .. so ask !

backfoot

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

The best and quickest way to forward find what your actual and predicted costs will be, would be to :

- ask a rep here or just log into your account for a free 'callback' when you establish a human contact simply ask what your CAC is for the next year.

Acronym .. .. CAC and stands for Calculated Annual Consumption, its instant information at the end of a phone call on everyone's account - use it ! .. .. they wont give you it unless you ask .. .. so ask !

So CAC is consumption or value based?

Is it historical or an estimate of the future?

If it is the key data why don't Supplier's readily share it with customers? e.g. on the bill or online.

How does it differ to the annual energy statement?

Is it a common data field for all Suppliers?

Thanks.:)

Richie-from-the-Boro

backfoot wrote: »

So CAC is consumption or value based?

Is it historical or an estimate of the future?

If it is the key data why don't Supplier's readily share it with customers? e.g. on the bill or online.

How does it differ to the annual energy statement?

Is it a common data field for all Suppliers?

Thanks.:)

No idea to most of your questions, other than your .Q.1. It is as far as I'm aware my extrapolated future KwH use at whatever tariff rate.

From a consumer point of view its what my provider uses to 'guess' my future according to the accounting rules they have in place, and that's what I'm particularly interested in. If my provider tells me by email I'm due an x% increase, and I ring some poor wage-slave phone-monkey who parrot like repeats I'm due an x% increase in my direct debit I can cut to the quick on what's really happening.

The CAC will give me their next three or more quarters guess on my consumption regardless of any 'anniversary' date, if that's in line with my true usage at the tariff I'm on, its because they changed their tariff or charges without notifying me. It is the case that most people who make 12 monthly payments and are for example in credit in the summer, and break even in the winter who have their DD increased can ask for their CAC and make a case for the increase to be cancelled immediately right there during the phone call.

backfoot

Richie,

Thanks for information and your honesty. Of course if this CAC is accurate, then it is important that we find out what it is and how it is derived.

Is it the same thing that Terry has written about ? EAC's/ AQ's.

I think this is a historical database,which he advises is only as accurate as the Supplier's maintain it. He has many reservations due to regular malpractice.

As I understand it, EDF reveal this data under their 'Midata '

For SP they have an online facility to download the data. In my case,the electricity record looks correct but the gas record is 10,000 KWh out, representing an error of 1/3.

Hopefully, the SP Rep can explain it all to us,including what the CAC is? After all,they are supposed to be the experts.

jalexa

backfoot wrote: »

As I understand it, EDF reveal this data under their 'Midata '

Good questions as usual. I await Terrylw1's further comment.

Regarding Edf 'midata", the 'Forecasted cost' field I believe is the cost figure regulations prescribe on the 'annual statement'.

The 'Energy usage' field bizarrely changes (slightly) on a daily basis even when no readings have been submitted. Clearly it is changing for a reason, though I do not know the reason. SLC27.15 does not prescribe a reason, only that is "the best and most current information available". I speculate that seasonal factors may be at work and further speculate this might be the CAC Ritchie refers to.

I point out again that the 'Forecasted cost' (both fuels) is 6% more that the tariff cost of the first 12 month's actual consumption. It has not yet been used in a DD calculation but I am alert to the inflated cost being so used.

Terrylw1

This CAC is something the supplier has built into their system to allow their staff to tell you over the phone what your forecast is and their staff can use to review your usage.

Its not really a new thing in the industry as some suppliers ran software that did this by creating an "internal EAC". I've seen this is use in more than one suppliers systems prior to upgrade to SAP.

However, the SAP systems are being marketed as a way to make data available to the front liners so you can access it. For instance, if you give a supplier with a SAP billing & CRM system, it will immediately calculate your bill whereas previous Legacy systems required overnight batch processing. You will probably find that the CAC is just their terminology and EDF use midata.

However, this is not an EAC or AQ. The key distinction? These processes are vastly more complicated and use data from weather stations in predicting the impact to future calculations over the next 12 months. This occurs due to specific industry processes set up and managed by Elexon who manage the Balancing & Settlements Code (BSC) or both gas & elec industries. This process and software is industry standard and agreed as Best Practice for managing all the settlement data for the industries...so its heavily researched, checked, audited, published and used to produce reports to much higher people in managing the grid.

SAP on the other hand has been built to standards for the Australia/India markets and has proved inappropriate for UK markets in certain processes. Now, some of the SAP packages come with a licence, not IPR ownership, but the rest is "configurable". Generally you will find values like this to be variables hence I would expect them to fit into the configurable category. You couldn't add a fixed value to forecasts over different seasons anyway and I doubt a software company would restrict these values as some suppliers may look elsewhere for a software solution they can control.

So, the question is, who created the values and based on what? My assumption would be that is the supplier in configuring the values and could change. My take on this is that trying to mimic the EAC & AQ processes without weather data is not possible and I would set your usage at X higher/lower based on which month it was spread over. Within this I would have used data you have supplied to create daily averages in the seasons you have submitted them for. Or it could be as simple of Npower's gas sculpting which was an earlier attempt at a very basic level.

I know EAC's are used in SAP. So, I suspect they use that value somewhere but these industry forecasts are nothing to do with you calling. They are based on changes in data (a reading for instance) or a physical process such as a switch/meter change/energisation status change. With the physical process, the start date changes to the date of the physical change. For just a reading though, the original date stays and the EAC or AQ is adjusted only, but the new date starts when 12 months passes after the old one.

For me, there are many problems in EAC/AA/AQ processes which an cause settlement yo be wrong hence linking it to your payments is very risky. It will create a lot of internal rejections due to its nature. However, its built on software far more advanced than what your supplier has built in SAP.

In terms of the daily recalculation, it will be one such variable defined in SAP that says "I've moved on 1 day and the calculation is now X days at X usage for X month, and so on".

backfoot

Just bumping this back to the top so that the Scottish Power Reps can help with their advice.:)

backfoot wrote: »

We have some confusion with Scottish Power and Direct Debits. To help unravel it can the SP rep answer the following please:

1. Ofgem's Factsheet on Direct Debits states, that the time of year that the account should balance will be on the anniversary of the account.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Media/FactSheets/Documents1/directdebitleaflet.pdf

Presumably the information was given to Ofgem by SP.

Is this information correct or not?

2. If it isn't correct, when did SP change their policy?

3. Is the new policy a rolling 12 month estimate with a zero balance 12 months ahead of any quarterly review?

4.. SP's explanation of the Direct Debit Calculation is here :

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

Do SP think that this accurately reflects their current policy?

5. Do all customers get an annual review. Does it result in documentation or only when a change is proposed? Is it produced on the contract anniversary date?

6. Is the annual review the same thing as a quarterly review? If not,what are the differences?

7. What are the parameters following the quarterly review which trigger an amended DD ? e.g.1%, 5%,10% ?

8. When is the Annual Energy Statement produced by SP? How is it provided to the customer?

9.Is the Kwh consumption data in the Annual Energy Statement the same as that used to derive the DD calculation for the Annual Review?

Hopefully, these simple questions will help clarify SP's policy.

Many thanks.