Scottish Power being slated

broxis11

Article from front page of the the Daily Record here in Scotland


24 April 2007
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
One million Scots could save £122 a year by ditching ScottishPower
By James Lyons

SCOTTISHPOWER have been accused by an industry watchdog of ripping off customers by up to £122 a year.

The firm have yet to pass on a reduction in the price of wholesale gas to customers.

This means more than a million Scots could be better off switching to a cheaper supplier.

The news came on the day ScottishPower were bought by a Spanish firm - and their boss pocketed a £4million golden handshake.

Chief executive Philip Bowman, who has been in charge of the firm for just over a year, will get a bundle of shares, a year's salary of £700,000 and a £1million bonus when he steps down in the next few months.

But as the takeover went through, watchdogs Ofgem were urging customers to ditch ScottishPower.

Ofgem said another 100,000 Scots could slash up to £140 off their annual bill by leaving fellow energy firm EDF. British Gas sparked a price war by cutting the cost of gas and electricity in February.

Rivals Npower, Powergen and Scottish and Southern Energy fought back with cuts.

But ScottishPower and EDF Energy have not followed suit.

Ofgem's Alistair Buchanan said: "Our research shows a big price gap has opened up, leaving EDF Energy and ScottishPower customers paying over £100 for staying loyal.

"Competition is all about customer power. Any supplier that tries to buck the market by not lowering prices risks an exodus of customers."

ScottishPower and EDF supply more than 10million customers in Britain.

Campaigning Coatbridge Labour MP Tom Clarke said: "The energy companies should be ashamed."

Only British Gas and Scottish and Southern Energy's price cuts are so far in place.

An EDF Energy spokesman said: "Our prices are continually under review. Price is important but so are excellent service, social and environmental responsibility." A spokesman for ScottishPower said: "We are monitoring our pricing structure."

Spanish firm Iberdrola's buyout of ScottishPower was cleared by the Court of Session yesterday.

Directors will receive big payouts and small shareholders will collect a £1000 windfall on average as a result.

Cardew

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=435088

elektra

So far I am happy with them. Only switched in January. Switch went smoothly. Website easy to use. Email contact good ( sent email yesterday, they replied today).

Also they are still cheaper than most for me. I think BG click may be cheaper but am not going back to them as still have ongoing problem with parents account since last July and not read good things on here about peoples experiences with click.

JohalaReewi

Energyhelp line still has Scottish Power second to BG Click (by £20 a year) for me but like elektra, there is no way I am going back to BG click.

tobykim

I've switched to the energy saving 3 option and read my meter and had my bill, however yesterday the man came to read the meter, does this still happen when you read it yourself? he told me that it does

dealsearcher

I too have had a meter reader from Siemens come around. I turned him away saying that I had switched from Powergen to Scottish Power. I have also received letters from Siemens requesting my meter reading. At the top of their letter was also the Powergen logo. I binned the letter.

I emailed Scottish Power and their reply stated that the meter would normally be read periodically to check the safety of the meter and the supply.

My concern was that I had considerable trouble with Powergen when I switched to Scottish Power, even being threatened with disconnection by Transco on Powergen's instructions. I therefore gave the meter reader short thrift as, as far as I was concerned at the time, I thought he represented Powergen.

nelliebag

I'm not in the least surprised they are being slated. After receiving an electricity bill for daughter's 2 bed flat in Glasgow for £358:eek: and giving her a rollicking I phoned Scottish Power to find out if there was any way to economise - it turns out that they have been charging the wrong tariff since we bought the flat over a year ago and owes us about £400 in total. Doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence. So if in doubt - dont give the daughter a rollicking - give Scottish Power one instead:A (daughter)
nellie

bornfree_3

11/04/07 I opted to change from dual fuel with EDF to Scottish Power,via. energyhelpline.com, my gas was switched 11/05/07 then on 14/05/07 Scot. Power e.mailed me from their "Do-Not-Reply" auto generated site to inform me
that my Electricity switch was no longer being progressed and that they would write with an explaination, which as of to-day they have not.
Anyway I phoned them yesterday as I was intrigued, the answer I rec'd has left me even more intrigued , they cannot switch me over because " I have a dual tariff meter" but the energyhelpline.com quoted prices for Night & Day
rate charges . Please someone, elaborate on something that I must be missing, the Scot. Power customer services also quoted that most other suppliers operate the same policy ???

renegade

Be advised. Scottish Power are without doubt the most incompetent suppliers I have ever had the mistake of buying from.
Since I switched to them 5 years ago, I have had nothing but trouble, I could paper my walls with letters, e mails trying to sort out past errors on their part, and the meter readings, not worth the paper they are written on, they dont even know how to calculate them, gave me a forecast reading for 2005/2006 of #4,500.00 for my little 3 bed semi with only me in it! Laugh, i could have if they had had the decency to apologise for the error, but no, I had no reply at all to that one, there have been many things since and now I have had enough, I am switching, hoping to find a competent company.

tripled

bornfree wrote: »

they cannot switch me over because " I have a dual tariff meter" but the energyhelpline.com quoted prices for Night & Day
rate charges . Please someone, elaborate on something that I must be missing, the Scot. Power customer services also quoted that most other suppliers operate the same policy ???

All suppliers support economy 7 to my knowledge, so my guess would be you have an economy 10 meter, which isn't supported by many companies. If you ask your current supplier they will be able to confirm what type of meter you have.