Scottish Power - Help with bill please

Cate1976

My husband & I have been with Scottish Power since we moved into the house on 11/09/2012 (account in our name from 10/09/2012). Unfortunately we weren't able to save anything towards the electric/gas bill (duel fuel a/c) and ended up being £322.74 debit. Being sensible I phoned Scottish Power and told them that although we were prepared to pay the bill, we didn't have the money to pay it in one go. The negotiated amount was that we'd pay £154 month, I had estimated that actual usage would be average of £120 month approx (can't remember what the figure is for each). Been paying this since January. I've been a bit lax in submitting monthly reads and submitted actual readings on 03/07/2013. There's a couple of things on it that I don't understand. Here's the figures from the bill:

Statement Period 9th March 2013 - 2nd July 2013
Online Standard - Monthly Direct Debit.

Last Period
Balance of last statement £477.97 Debit
Account Adjustment -£441.72
Account Balance 1st July £57.28 Debit

This Period
Account Balance £57.28 Debit
Energy Charges £455.02
Discounts £6.36
Total Vat £1.41
Total £450.07
New Balance £507.35 Debit

Energy Charges This Period
Electricity
Start Reading 30188 (est) 09/03/2013
End Reading 30296 (act) 21/03/2013
Units used 108

Start Reading 30296
End Reading 30993 (cust Reading) 03/07/2013
Units used 697

09/03/2013 - 02/07/2013 Consumption Charge Secondary 519kwh x 11.806 = £61.27
09/03/2013 - 02/07/2013 Consumption Charge Primary 286kwh x 22.387 = £64.03

Total Electricity Charges £125.30

Gas
Start Reading 9963 (est) 09/03/2013
End Reading 10227 (act) 21/03/2013
Units used 264 = 2925 kwh

Start Reading 10227
End Reading 10671 (cust) 03/07/2013
Units used 444 = 4919 kwh

09/03/2013 - 02/07/2013 Consumption Charge Secondary 6993kwh x 3.818p = £266.99
09/03/2013 - 02/07/2013 Consumption Charge Primary 851kwh x 7.371p = £62.73

Total Gas Charges £329.72

Total Charges for Period £455.02

Account Adjustments
Cancelled Electricity Charge -£94.05
Cancelled Gas Charge -£326.64
Cancelled VAT -£21.03
Total Account Adjustments -£441.72

Discounts
Gas & Electricity Discount -£3.18
Internet Discount -£3.18
Total Discounts -£6.18

VAT
VAT @ 5% on £448.66 £22.44
Total VAT £1.41

Calculating your gas charge
Gas Units used x Calorific value 39 x volume correction 1.02264 / 3.6 = gas used expressed in kwh.

I think the account adjustments could be the monthly payments being credited to our account?
The difference between the £455.02 charges for the period and the £507.35 actual balance is what's outstanding from the £322.74 debt for the first few months we were in the house? If that's right we've knocked £270.41 off the debt in 6 months which I think is good going bearing in mind how cold Winter & Spring were. We set the heating to be on all the time and thermostat in the lounge was set at either 18C or 20C depending on how cold it felt (lounge is biggest room in the house with windows both ends)

The parts that I don't understand is why there's 2 seperate rates for both gas & electricity. The only thing the gas does is heating & hot water. Each utility only has one meter so we're not on economy 7 or anything like that (all the rooms have radiators in them). We really can't afford to pay more each month at the moment but maybe able to in 3ish months time.

Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

Wolf3

The two separate rates Scottish Power are billing you for the Gas and Electric bills are for your Primary and Secondary rates, instead of you paying a standing charge on your meter.

Depending on the tariff you payer a higher rate for the first part of your annual usage and a lower rate for the remainder. You're billed a certain number of units per day so the number of Primary units your charged for can change each bill depending on the number of days between each bill.

So as you have noted you are charged 22.387p Elec Primary and 11.806p Elec Secondary. 7.371 Gas Primary and 3.818 Gas Secondary.

Cate1976

Thanks for that Wolf3, does make sense as there's no standing charge on the tariff I'm on. I'm staying on this tariff until we've been here a year and then will look to changing to a cheaper tariff.

Wywth

Cate1976 wrote: »

Thanks for that Wolf3, does make sense as there's no standing charge on the tariff I'm on. I'm staying on this tariff until we've been here a year and then will look to changing to a cheaper tariff.

As you are already struiggling to pay the bill, why are you making things even more difficult for yourself staying on what is probably an expensive tariff?

A supplier's standard tariff is usually their most expensive. I see you are on their online version, but you may be able to save a whole lot more.

Even if you can't switch supplier (e,g, because of the current debt level) at least choose the cheapest tariff from your current supplier.

macman

Cate1976 wrote: »

Thanks for that Wolf3, does make sense as there's no standing charge on the tariff I'm on. I'm staying on this tariff until we've been here a year and then will look to changing to a cheaper tariff.

I concur with Wywth. Why? Where is the logic in that if you are already in arrears and can't change suppliers anyway?
You are on Standard-the most expensive. Switch to the cheapest SP tariff.

Cate1976

I thought it'd be easier to stay on the tariff I'm on because I can then put the accurate figures for energy used over the 12 months in the box where it asks for it rather than having to put in details about size of house and for the calculations to be out.

Next question is about arrears, if I try to change supplier just after a billling date, would it be blocked due to 'arrears'? If this is the case, then in theory we can only change supplier just before a billing date? Eg, bill produced every 3 months with the next one being done early October, I try to change supplier end September, will Scottish Power send me final bill or block the transfer? I know that the debt has to be below £200 but is this £200 of debt or £200 owed for usage? If it's the latter, in theory changing supplier is very difficult. This is the first time we've been in a house with credit meters, I don't want pre pays either as they're so much more expensive & also I'd be concerned that the amount being taken each week for the debts wouldn't be set at a level we couldn't afford (have read a few horror stories on here).

When I agreed to pay Scottish Power £154 month, that was based on electric & gas combined being £120 which would mean £34 month going towards the debt. Looking at the figures above we've paid £270.41 off the debt so have in fact been paying £45 month towards it? The plan is that even once the debt is paid off, we'll keep paying £154 month as child 3 is due in 5 weeks time so are expecting a lot more washing and possibly having to use the tumble dryer in the winter months. They haven't mentioned pre pays yet but as what we owe is above £500, I'm thinking they might or will they be ok with us keeping paying £154 month?

Wywth

Cate1976 wrote: »

I thought it'd be easier to stay on the tariff I'm on because I can then put the accurate figures for energy used over the 12 months in the box where it asks for it rather than having to put in details about size of house and for the calculations to be out.

If you stay with the same supplier, they will know what your last years usage was if you stay with them a year, irrespective of which tariff(s) you are on during that year.

All you are doing by remaining on an expensive tariff is paying more for the same gas & electricity than that need to.

Cate1976 wrote: »

Next question is about arrears, if I try to change supplier just after a billling date, would it be blocked due to 'arrears'? If this is the case, then in theory we can only change supplier just before a billing date? Eg, bill produced every 3 months with the next one being done early October, I try to change supplier end September, will Scottish Power send me final bill or block the transfer? I know that the debt has to be below £200 but is this £200 of debt or £200 owed for usage? If it's the latter, in theory changing supplier is very difficult. This is the first time we've been in a house with credit meters, I don't want pre pays either as they're so much more expensive & also I'd be concerned that the amount being taken each week for the debts wouldn't be set at a level we couldn't afford (have read a few horror stories on here).

When I agreed to pay Scottish Power £154 month, that was based on electric & gas combined being £120 which would mean £34 month going towards the debt. Looking at the figures above we've paid £270.41 off the debt so have in fact been paying £45 month towards it? The plan is that even once the debt is paid off, we'll keep paying £154 month as child 3 is due in 5 weeks time so are expecting a lot more washing and possibly having to use the tumble dryer in the winter months. They haven't mentioned pre pays yet but as what we owe is above £500, I'm thinking they might or will they be ok with us keeping paying £154 month?

You can only be blocked from moving supplier if you actually owe the supplier money and you didn't pay it when requested, not simply because your account is in the red.

A debt is not a debt until at least 28 days after it is formally demanded (e.g. billed)

Usually you are never in formal debt with your supplier if you pay monthly by DD as the supplier never usually demands you pay accrued arrears by way of a formal bill, but typically just revises your monthly payment.

You appear to have got into debt because I guess you were originally supposed to pay on receipt of bill, and having failed, the supplier put you on a monthly payment plan.

Cate1976

It's not a payment plan we're on, the monthly DD was set to allow for estimated usage and putting something towards paying off the £322.74. I set this up after getting the bill in December.

I've now switched to the online saver tariff which is price fixed until 30/09/2014. As well as saving £200 year compared to online standard, there's no cancellation fees if we switch to a different tariff with SP or switch supplier. Once we've got the debt down a lot more, then I'll go on comparison sites to see if I can get a better deal elsewhere. We're in rented house and in Tenancy Agreement it says we have to inform letting agent in writing before we change supplier (would do this out of courtesy even if it wasn't in Tenancy Agreement).

Wywth

Cate1976 wrote: »

It's not a payment plan we're on, the monthly DD was set to allow for estimated usage and putting something towards paying off the £322.74. I set this up after getting the bill in December...

That's a payment plan