£307 per month direct debit

epskie

Hello All,
Scottish Power have fixed my dd at £307 per month. My bill is in arrears of £1782 due to a massive gas bill last year. Is there anything I can do? I desperately don't want to have prepayment meters but I really don't think I can afford £307 per month.:(:(:(

Wywth

epskie wrote: »

Hello All,
Scottish Power have fixed my dd at £307 per month. My bill is in arrears of £1782 due to a massive gas bill last year. Is there anything I can do? I desperately don't want to have prepayment meters but I really don't think I can afford £307 per month.:(:(:(

Cor, that's a lot!

Unfortunately, as you owe your existing supplier a considerable sum (it's well over my total annual energy bill let alone a one off gas bill bill), then they are unlikely to allow you to switch supplier, but you could ask SP if you are on the best tariff they offer for your circumstances as they should allow you to transfer to a better tariff if available.

It is wise to try and avoid prepayment meters if you can as they will not offer you access to the suppliers best tariffs.

Also check the actual bill and meter readings to ensure they are accurate and based on real meter readings. As I said, the one off gas bill seems very high.

You may also wish to discuss with the supplier ways to cut your energy consumption, as they appear to think you will be using almost £2000 worth of energy per year which is also high for a dual fuel property.

System

Wywth wrote: »

You may also wish to discuss with the supplier ways to cut your energy consumption, as they appear to think you will be using almost £2000 worth of energy per year

Based on the size of arrears from the previous year then that would be about right

epskie

It's a bad situation all round really. The gas bill came about last year. My boiler kept dropping pressure last year. I work for an estate agents and I asked the gas man we use at work if he could take a look. He told me my boiler was ten years old and knackered and we needed a new one - he could do it all for £1200 - we went ahead.

New boiler dropped in pressure continuously, just like the last one. Gas man returned and diagnosed 'teething problems.' Meanwhile my laminate flooring in my dining room began to bubble and lift. Hubby pulled up laminate flooring to find huge pools of water and laminate was soaked and rotten all around the radiator.

By now I'm rather irate and I ask gas man to return and take a look at the leak in the radiator. Gas man repairs leaky radiator and boiler stops dropping in pressure. So £1200 for boiler and £450 for a new dining room floor later and I am rather annoyed with gas man.

Scottish Power then enter the scene with a £1800 gas bill - is this all connected?? Needless to say we stopped using gas man at work but when I called him to complain about all of my costs etc his wife advised me he was in a coma, I felt a tad mean continuing with my complaint but here I am with a huge bill. Can any of you clever people advise me as to whether this is all connected or not? And if there's anything at all I can do?

Wywth

epskie wrote: »

It's a bad situation all round really. The gas bill came about last year. My boiler kept dropping pressure last year. I work for an estate agents and I asked the gas man we use at work if he could take a look. He told me my boiler was ten years old and knackered and we needed a new one - he could do it all for £1200 - we went ahead.

New boiler dropped in pressure continuously, just like the last one. Gas man returned and diagnosed 'teething problems.' Meanwhile my laminate flooring in my dining room began to bubble and lift. Hubby pulled up laminate flooring to find huge pools of water and laminate was soaked and rotten all around the radiator.

By now I'm rather irate and I ask gas man to return and take a look at the leak in the radiator. Gas man repairs leaky radiator and boiler stops dropping in pressure. So £1200 for boiler and £450 for a new dining room floor later and I am rather annoyed with gas man.

Scottish Power then enter the scene with a £1800 gas bill - is this all connected?? Needless to say we stopped using gas man at work but when I called him to complain about all of my costs etc his wife advised me he was in a coma, I felt a tad mean continuing with my complaint but here I am with a huge bill. Can any of you clever people advise me as to whether this is all connected or not? And if there's anything at all I can do?

No, not connected at all.

epskie

Thank you Wywth :-)

Terrylw1

Why is the bill so high? Is it even correct? Did you switch to them or move in before this occurred? Did you have a meter change? Is it charged using the correct multiplier for your style of meter?

In terms of the suppliers obligation to debt, use the supplier .PDF on this link to Ofgem's site and look for the Standard Licence Conditions (SLC) for customers in payment difficulty in the payments sections.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Licensing/Work/Pages/licence-conditions-consolidated.aspx

Don-lou34

If your boiler was broken and was using excess energy for any period then yes it could put your usage higher. I've actually dealt with a few customers with this problem. Have you provided an actual read to your energy supplier? if you haven't for a long time and the bills have been estimated- when an actual read is entered onto the system and you weren't estimated enough it can rocket the bill up, rake out old bills for the same periods last year or call and ask the advisor to go through it with you.
I've just done a quick calculation on your arrears only and if your supplier has set the recovery rate over 12 mths that alone is just short of £150 monthly- so you would need to know what your consumption is. Call them and tell them it is not affordable to you and you're not wanting pre pay meters (they are ok for some people especially if you will struggle to pay the D/D they are not more expensive than the standard tariffs, contrary to popular belief, the standing charges are explained as a seperate charge but they're there and included when you're on mains energy too. It's a good way to re-pay your debt as the recovery can be much less than a D/D and also it keeps you in control of your usage and once you're debt free you can have them removed if you wish, you can also choose to have one fitted and keep the other on mains) personally if you choose to go down this route then I would choose to have an electric meter fitted.
Also with that amount outstanding you definitely wouldn't be able to switch supplier.

Don-lou34

Meant to add - call them and say the figure is not affordable and can you have an extended payment plan- you'll still have to first cover your monthly consumption in the plan but the debt part can be split over a longer term e.g 18 to a maximum 24 mths. The company I worked for would do this but customers were informed if you default it once it will not be re-set again over the same length of time. Good luck

Taadaa

What is the new boiler's energy rating? Do you have gas central heating and hot water? Gas oven? Any other sources?

Is the hot water on a timer? Review it if it is. Put it on 30 mins before it's needed, then turn it off when it is finished with. Is the heating timed to come on at the same time? Do you have cavity wall and loft insulation? You may be able to get it free, or even discounted.

Scottish_Power

Morning epski,

Can I have a look at your account and see if i can help get this reduced for you. Can you please e-mail me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Thanks

Marie@ScottishPower