Scottish Power - 25% price hike ?

BBDom

jalexa wrote: »

Your current day secondary unit price of 10.748p/unit is incredibly low. Please can I get some of that. This is just guesswork but I guess you are on a "guaranteed discount" tariff which had an initial discount significantly greater than the "guaranteed minimum".

If so perhaps a glass half full approach is to see that you have enjoyed a really good rate but now the party is over. And also that 13.469p/unit is still a good price for daytime E7.

In the circumstances you find yourself in it is possible to switch without liability for any early termination charges though the SP advisers may "deny" it (per previous threads).

Alternatively, next time choose a fixed rate.

Not a clue what kind of tarrif it's on - I just used a comparison site (for the first time ever) last year and Scottish Power came up with the best deal for the electric so went with them. The actual tariff I'm on is called the "Online Discounted Energy October 2013 (v2)"

tichtich

Cardew wrote: »

For instance if it is, say, an 7% average increase, is that on your total revenue, including as mused by tichtich above, the fixed/capped price tariffs that do not increase.

I feel pretty sure now that it's just a simplistic calculation, based on one hypothetical customer with average consumption paying the standard tariff. A realistic calculation would be very complex and require the company to make questionable assumptions.

It seems that even Ofgem reports price changes on this simplistic basis. See the graph in their recent fact sheet, "Why are energy prices rising?".
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Media/FactSheets/Documents1/Why%20are%20energy%20prices%20rising_factsheet_108.pdf

This might be a reasonable simplification most of the time, when special tariffs overall remain roughly in a fixed ratio to the standard tariff. But the present time is very different, because energy companies are drastically reducing that ratio. So the increase in the standard tariff is unrepresentative of increases overall.

tichtich

BBDom wrote: »

The actual tariff I'm on is called the "Online Discounted Energy October 2013 (v2)"

According to the SP web site, that tariff is at a 6% discount to the standard tariff. So it should have gone up by the same percent as the standard tariff (unless they were previously giving you more than 6% discount, out of the kindness of their hearts).

Perhaps they have just made a mistake.

jalexa

BBDom wrote: »

I also didn't expect to receive less than 10 days notice that this was going to happen. Pretty poor show from Scottish Power

Don't follow that point. You posted on 24 October that prices will increase on 3 December.

BBDom

jalexa wrote: »

Don't follow that point. You posted on 24 October that prices will increase on 3 December.

Well spotted - thats what happens when you only get a few hours sleep a night !

I'll post my apology to Scottish Power here for accusing them of not giving me plenty of notice (and edit the original post).

On with another 14 hour shift to pay the bills ......

tichtich

YoYoY wrote: »

According to their press release it is:

Oops. I was looking at an old press release from 2010. :embarasse

But it looks like my original guess was right. They are excluding fixed tariffs. If fixed tariffs are going up by more than unfixed, that means their figure understates the general increase.

Of course, particular fixed tariffs are not going up, as they're fixed. But more expensive fixed tariffs are replacing cheaper ones.

Moreover there's a similar effect if discounted tariffs are being replaced with discounted tariffs giving smaller discounts.

The 7% figure (assuming it's correct as described) is the immediate increase experienced by existing customers, averaged just over those who are having an increase now. It doesn't fairly represent the higher prices that will now be charged to new customers and people coming to the end of limited tariffs.

Scottish_Power

In response to Cardew's post about our price increase I can confirm the following:

The 7% figure quoted in the press release is a weighted average across the 3 payment methods (Direct Debit, Quarterly Credit and Prepayment) based on the volume of affected customers on each. This is using the GB average percentage increases for each payment method at industry average consumption. The calculation excludes Fixed/Capped products.

Unfortunately our ability to include detailed information in a press release is limited and therefore we have to use headline average rates. In this instance we did split the rate by payment method showing the average increase for Direct Debit, Prepayment and Quarterly Credit customers.

In line with industry regulation we write to each affected customer a minimum of 30 days in advance of the effective date of any increase with a personalised explanation of what the increase means for them.

I hope this is helpful.

Thanks David @ ScottishPower

Cardew

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

In this instance we did split the rate by payment method showing the average increase for Direct Debit, Prepayment and Quarterly Credit customers.


Thanks David @ ScottishPower

Thank You,

I found this surprising

The price change will result in the following increases for an average
combined gas and electricity bill[2]:

• A monthly Direct Debit customer will see an increase of 8.7%, with a new
  average annual Dual Fuel bill of £1,271
• Quarterly Cash or Cheque customers will see an increase of 1.4%, with a new
  average annual Dual Fuel bill of £1,368 (excludes Prompt Payer discounts)
• Prepayment customers will see an increase of 8.6%, with a new average annual
  bill of £1,349

Pre-payment customers will be paying less after the pay rise than quarterly cash or cheque customers.

As quarterly paying customers will have an increase of 1.4% against 8.6% for pre-payment customers; it means that at present(i.e. pre price increase) quarterly paying customers with average consumption(16,500/3,300kWh) are paying around £110 pa more than pre-pay customers.

This despite pre-pay tariffs being more expensive to administer. Presumably this is because of Government 'pressure' to reduce pre-pay tariffs as they tend to be used by the less well off.

I wonder if this situation applies to the other Utility companies.

Wywth

excludes Prompt Payer discounts

This is worth £31.50 per year and can be guaranteed by paying by variable quarterly DD (assuming it doesn't bounce)

I don't know of any other supplier that pays this amount.

r32

I'm on Online Discounted Energy October 2013 (v2), but the figures in the email I got look different to yours:

[FONT=&quot]Elec: First 225kWh used each quarter[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 22.262p[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 22.343p[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]All/Day remaining kWh[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 10.422p[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 11.900p[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Gas: First 670kWh used each quarter[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 7.269p[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 7.109p[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]All/Day remaining kWh[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 3.201p[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 3.603p

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Discounts: Gas & Electricity Offer[/FONT][FONT=&quot] £16.80[/FONT][FONT=&quot] £10.50†[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Online Energy Discount[/FONT][FONT=&quot] £15.75[/FONT][FONT=&quot] £10.50[/FONT][FONT=&quot]◊[/FONT]