Think i am being overcharged by Scottish Power

Digitalfaze

Hi, i ma currently living in a 1.5 bedroom flat (1 double and 1 single bedroom) and have some concerns regarding my gas and electricity bill. I have been with scootish power over a year and below i have given an example on my bill over 12months and what i have paid them.

from the course of 1/6/12 to 27/6/13
£852.13 (i have paid to electricity and gas)
£1,572 (which is a current debit on my account)

Bill charges months:
27/06/13

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(£175.00 PAID) ---£1572.81in Debit
20/06/13 £237.84 (actual) ---£1747.81in Debit
02/05/13

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-£266.00 ---£1509.97in Debit
01/05/13 £50.32(estimate) ---£1243.97in Debit
01/05/13

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£266.00 ---£1193.65in Debit
10/04/13

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(£114.13 PAID) ---£1459.65in Debit
05/04/13 £144.17(estimate) ---£1573.78in Debit
15/03/13 £483.94 (actual) ---£1429.61in Debit
29/01/13

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(£50.00 PAID) ---£945.67 in Debit
03/01/13

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-£185.00 ---£995.67 in Debit
03/01/13 £415.03 (estimate) ---£810.67 in Debit
02/01/13

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£185.00 ---£395.64 in Debit
06/12/12

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(£130.00 PAID) ---£580.64 in Debit
05/11/12 £472.77(estimate) ---£710.64 in Debit
02/11/12

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-£131.00 ---£237.87 in Debit
01/11/12

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£131.00 ---£106.87 in Debit
01/10/12

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(£131.00 PAID) ---£237.87 in Debit
31/08/12

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(£123.00 PAID) ---£368.87 in Debit
20/08/12 £105.44(estimate) ---£491.87 in Debit
03/07/12

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-£129.00 ---£386.43 in Debit
03/07/12 £155.68(estimate) ---£257.43 in Debit
02/07/12

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£129.00 ---£101.75 in Debit
01/06/12

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(£129.00 PAID) ---£230.75 in Debit

for the above that works out that my total cost would be £2,424.13

I dont know much about electricity and gas and dont get much help from scottishpower with this matter who are now demanding i pay them £300 a month to cover the debt and the current bill for the month, i find this bill to be a bit excessive and unrealistic for the size of house we live in which has just normal gas and electric usage (tv, laptop, xbox etc) also cooking and showers which uses gas.

I understand i have missed a few payments towards my bill and i am responsible for some but i just cant understand why as everytime i pay something or get close to paying something they just wack another £400+ bill onto my account and throws me back into crazy debt with them.

Can someone explain if this is correct and my bill should be £2,869 for a year worth of gas and electric for a 1 bedroom flat? if this sounds too much then can someone advise me what action i can take as i personally cant afford to pay £300 per month on top my rent etc.

I am also on a fixed rate plan till 2014.

energy consumption data table:

(Electricity kwh/1 = first 2 columns) (gas kwh/2 = last 3 columns)

Bill period Number of days Total Daily Average Total Daily Average
14/06/13 - 21/07/13 - 38 - 457 - 12 - 468 - 12
30/04/13 - 13/06/13 - 45 - 836 - 19 - 2316 -51
04/04/13 - 29/04/13 - 26 - 134 - 5 - 512 - 20
13/03/13 - 03/04/13 - 22 - 352 - 16 - 1989 -90
02/01/13 - 12/03/13 - 70 - 1081 -15 - 7064 -101
02/11/12 - 01/01/13 - 61 - 964 - 16 - 6620 -109
17/08/12 - 01/11/12 - 77 - 1966 -26 - 5565 -72
02/07/12 - 16/08/12 - 46 - 405 - 9 - 536 - 12
02/04/12 - 01/07/12 - 91 - 549 - 6 - 1125 -12
30/01/12 - 01/04/12 - 63 - 960 - 15 - 5256 -83
17/12/11 - 29/01/12 - 44 - 677 - 15 - 3599 -82

Meter readings according to my bills:
Electricity:
03/07/13 - start = 98524 (est 02/4/12) end = 98600 (customer 10/5/12)
20/08/12 - start = 99073 (est 02/7/12) end = 99478 (estimated 17/8/12)
05/11/12 - start = 99478 (est 17/8/12) end = 99608 (estimated 31/8/12)
03/01/13 - start = 1444 (est 2/11/12) end = 1872 (estimated 31/8/12)
15/03/13 - start = 2408 (est 2/1/13) end = 3489 (actual 13/4/13)
05/04/13 - start = 3489 (actual 13/3/13) end = 3841 (actual 4/4/13)
01/05/13 - start = 3841 (estimated 4/4/13) end = 3886 (actual 12/4/13)
20/06/13 - start = 3975 (estimated 30/4/13) end = 4811 (actual 14/6/13)

Gas:
03/07/13 - start = 19145 (est 02/4/12) end = 19150 (customer 10/5/12)
20/08/12 - start = 19246 (est 02/7/12) end = 19294 (estimated 17/8/12)
05/11/12 - start = 19294 (est 17/8/12) end = 19304 (estimated 31/8/12)
03/01/13 - start = 19795 (est 2/11/12) end = 20104 (estimated 31/8/12)
15/03/13 - start = 20391 (est 2/1/13) end = 21027 (actual 13/4/13)
05/04/13 - start = 21027 (actual 13/3/13) end = 21207 (actual 4/4/13)
01/05/13 - start = 21207 (estimated 4/4/13) end = 21222 (actual 12/4/13)
20/06/13 - start = 21253 (estimated 30/4/13) end = 21461 (actual 14/6/13)

Thank you and any help is much appreciated

keith1950

Hi, you need to post your annual usage in kWh's so we can see what you are actually using.

Jonesy88

Hi it might just be my addition but i can only see £852.13 of payments? Do you have your gas/elec reads?

Digitalfaze

thanks for the fast reply.

worked out my annual usage give or take a few days

Electric = 6194kw
Gas = 2215kw

matelodave

There aren't any meter readings in the above list - who is reading the meter, have you been updating SP with readings when they've been sending you estimates. Which tariffs are you on.

You can, without too much effort work out your own bills based on the meter readings and your tariffs.

Stuff like TVs, X-boxes, SKy, DVDs, phone chargers, computers and other stuff can use a surprising amount of power if you don't turn them off when you aren't using them. If you'd been reading the meter and sending them the info and getting your bills corrected then you would have known that you weren't even coming close to paying what you are using. You would also have the ammunition to help you save energy.

A reasonable bill would be about £1200-£1400 a year but if you've ended up with a debit of nearly £1600 then you'll have to pay off 2900/12= £242 a month just to pay off your debt and your current usage by next July. Perhaps SP don't feel that they want to wait that long to get their money back.

Looking at your Kw usage you are using a tremendous amount of electricity compared to gas - do you have electric heating or are you using fan heaters etc instead of the gas central heating

We have an all electric 3 bedroom bungalow we cook, heat, wash, hot water, tumble dry, dishwash etc and only use 2000kw more electricity than you and we are at home all day every day so I'd suggest that you could do a lot to economise.

Digitalfaze

matelodave wrote: »

There aren't any meter readings in the above list - who is reading the meter, have you been updating SP with readings when they've been sending you estimates. Which tariffs are you on.

You can, without too much effort work out your own bills based on the meter readings and your tariffs.

Stuff like TVs, X-boxes, SKy, DVDs, phone chargers, computers and other stuff can use a surprising amount of power if you don't turn them off when you aren't using them. If you'd been reading the meter and sending them the info and getting your bills corrected then you would have known that you weren't even coming close to paying what you are using. You would also have the ammunition to help you save energy.

A reasonable bill would be about £1200-£1400 a year but if you've ended up with a debit of nearly £1600 then you'll have to pay off 2900/12= £242 a month just to pay off your debt and your current usage by next July. Perhaps SP don't feel that they want to wait that long to get their money back

Thanks for the reply, we cant get into the basement as there is asbestos warnings where the meters are, surely they cant just take advantage of of the fact i cant get reading for the meters and charging me substantial amounts of money.

television goes off when i go to bed, xbox is only on for a couple of hours a day, nothing is excessively using electricity or gas, my previous house used £130 of both gas and electric a month which included running a large iguana enclosure.

we have gas central heating and gas stove and no electric fans or heaters

i know i have debt but this is what was advised i was to pay to clear debt and cover my bill so the direct debit was set at that. as i said i take responsibility for some of the debt but the costs that are adding up are just unrealistic on a major scale, i have recently taking a reading for this month after getting the bill in which gave me a bill for this month which came in at £122.45 from 20/06/13 - 22/07/13. Even that at 12 months does not add up to £2869.

Jonesy88

Again can i just ask about your totals - the bill amounts for the year add up to £2065? and the payments £852.13?

Reading your meters is your responsibility - i thought asbestos only came into play when building work was ongoing etc disturbing the dust?

Digitalfaze

Jonesy88 wrote: »

Again can i just ask about your totals - the bill amounts for the year add up to £2065? and the payments £852.13?

Reading your meters is your responsibility - i thought asbestos only came into play when building work was ongoing etc disturbing the dust?

Hi, sorry i miscalculated and have updated everything in the first post, i dont know about asbestos i just go by the do not enter on the door of the basement.

molerat

Without meter readings nothing meaningful can be said by anyone here.

Is your gas meter metric or imperial, are you being charged according to that meter type ?
As you are in a flat and I assume the meter room is communal are the meters being read actually yours ?
Is the gas figure you have given above kWh or meter units ?

Cardew

As the OP uses gas for heating/cooking etc, the gas the OP gives as 2,215kw is pretty certainly not kWh but metric gas units - so approx 24,800kWh.

That is obviously very high for a 2 bed flat, but just about believable if the flat is kept really warm all day. The electricity(6194kWh) is also high, but again believable.

However even with that high consumption(24,800kWh gas and 6194kWh) it would cost nothing like £2,424 with SP on a 2014 fixed rate plan.

Digitalfaze

molerat wrote: »

Without meter readings nothing meaningful can be said by anyone here.

Is your gas meter metric or imperial, are you being charged according to that meter type ?
As you are in a flat and I assume the meter room is communal are the meters being read actually yours ?
Is the gas figure you have given above kWh or meter units ?

Hi thanks, yes all the meters are in the blocks basement, im sorry i know nothing about any of this stuff, i had a prepay meter before this so everything is new to me and my previous flat was alot bigger

the figures above are in kwh according to my bills and have updated the first post with all meter readings from the bills i have