completely lost - dual fuel

oldboy64

Hello. I wonder if some kind soul can tell me what I should do please.

For quite a few years I have been very happy on the 'fresh Start' social tariff with Scottish Power.

I have been paying a monthly DD for £84 which covered the bills.

Out of the blue I received a letter from them dated 19th July 2013, but delivered on Sat 3rd August!!!!
They simply, without any explanation told me that as from the 7th August they will start collecting £120 a month. I telephoned them on the following Monday (5th) and again on the Tuesday morning (6th) but could not get through after waiting ages. So I decided that they just can't increase it willy nilly without telling me why so I went to the bank on the Tuesday afternoon (6th) and cancelled the DD. That way they don't get any money until I am satisfied that they can prove to me that the £120 is reasonable.

Eventually I managed to get through to them on Sat 10th. I told them what had happened and what I wanted and that no more money was coming their way until they give me an answer.

Well I received a letter this morning telling me that the £120 would have been too high anyhow as they had reviewed my consumption and gave figures that I can now agree with - the Direct Debit should have been £100 a month instead of the £84 that I have been currently paying.

Unfortunately things have moved on now - I rang them today - as I have cancelled the DD, the Fresh Start social tariff has been cancelled and is no longer available - I have been put on the cash monthly standard tariff. The costs of the units now means that they now want a 'cash payment every month of £150!!

I told them that they could fly their kite with the £150 - and the most that I will pay them is what I should have been asked to pay in the first place - £100 a month. They said no and as I now have a debt with them (non payment of the last DD) and because of my refusal to pay them anything unless it is on my terms they will are to arrange for me to have prepayment meters installed.

Well it got a little heated after that when they told me that they will if need be obtain a warrant to force entry to change the meters - my final answer was - try it - one of us will end up in hospital if you do that!


How can I force Scottish Power to go back to the beginning (as they should have in the first place if only they had answered my telephone calls on the Mon & Tues.

It has gone now from a good social tariff to prepayment meters

with my fuel costs going up from £84 a month to over £150 a month!

We are both on very low income - wife is 70 and I'm 64, both disabled (AA & DLA) and receive Guaranteed Pension credit and a small amount (£2 a week) of Savings Credit. Because of that we can't even have the Warm Home payments - tried for the past 2 years but don't qualify because of the savings credit payment.

Nada666

Surely with guaranteed pension credit you have an income of more than £140 per week? Also, as you have savings, you are expected to spend some of your savings. But that is by the by.

What you need to look at is your annual consumption in kWhs. Work out what the cheapest tariff is from any supplier. (As you are paying by direct debit anyway this is not a problem - you probably should have switched years ago.)

I am not sure why you are wanting to commit assault - if you are not happy with Scottish Power change supplier. Alternatively you can switch to paying quarterly. This will mean you do not need to pay £100 or more in the middle of summer when the heating is off. But, of course, over winter you will have to put money aside to pay the £600 or £800 quarterly winter bill when it arrives.

If you want to adjust your usage downwards and use less then your options are quarterly payments or prepayment meters. It will take time for direct debit payments to reflect your intention to use less.

keith1950

This has been brought about by your own stupidity....everybody knows that you don't cancel direct debits.

You sound like a bit of a 'hot head' , you don't get anything in life by threatening people !

You should pay anything owing on the account and start a switch as soon as possible before they install the PP meters.

You say you are disabled but seem fit enough to think you can physically abuse workmen doing their job.

If you interfere with their warrant the workmen will telephone the police for assistance.

What goes around comes around, you will get what you deserve.....nothing !

oldboy64

keith1950 wrote: »

This has been brought about by your own stupidity....everybody knows that you don't cancel direct debits.

You sound like a bit of a 'hot head' , you don't get anything in life by threatening people !

You should pay anything owing on the account and start a switch as soon as possible before they install the PP meters.

You say you are disabled but seem fit enough to think you can physically abuse workmen doing their job.

If you interfere with their warrant the workmen will telephone the police for assistance.

What goes around comes around, you will get what you deserve.....nothing !

Do they not??

If you received a letter saying that your gas/electricity DD was to go up from £84 a month to £120 a month with no explanation offered and you had two days before they would take it out - what would you have done? I tried countless times to get in touch with them on the Monday and on the Tuesday but couldn't get through. The only thing I could do to make them contact me was to suspend/cancel the DD whish was due on Wednesday morning.

Then to be told later that the £120 was a 'little high' and £100 was more reasonable. If they had been able to discuss this on the Monday or the Tuesday I would have been happy with the explanation and allowed the DD to go out for £100.

As it is they have now taken me off the social tariff and told me that there are no more tariffs like it and that the new tariff will cost me £150 a month!! So my monthly payment has gone from £84 to a proposed £120, then on reflection it should have been £100 instead to now £150 - with the cheek in telling me that I should have spoken to them on the Monday or Tuesday!!!!!

I didn't start any of this and all I wanted was (a) an explanation of where the £120 came from and (b) a discussion to agree a more reasonable amount.

Nobody takes more money from my account than I have previously agreed to without giving me the full reasons and explanations why they want to.

I've had a look at the switching and nowhere are the rates as good as they were on the social tariff I was on.

My annual cost under that tariff was £1010 a year for gas & electricity. The cheapest deal now is over £1300 a year.

It's stalemate at the moment - I don't owe them anything - in fact they owe me money!! But they will not get another penny until they (a) apologise for not giving me more notice (b) put me back on my old tariff and accept the £100 a month they said was more reasonable and (c) make sure that they answer the phone when a customer rings up.

They have made a decision telling me that 'they WILL get money from me and have arranged for payment meters for both gas and electricity. They won't back down from that.

Why should I be bullied into changing my supplier? Who the hell do they think they are?

Fit enough? It doesn't take much effort to put a 12 bore cartridge over their heads if they attempt to force entry into my home.

oldboy64

Nada666 wrote: »

Surely with guaranteed pension credit you have an income of more than £140 per week? Also, as you have savings, you are expected to spend some of your savings. But that is by the by.

What you need to look at is your annual consumption in kWhs. Work out what the cheapest tariff is from any supplier. (As you are paying by direct debit anyway this is not a problem - you probably should have switched years ago.)

I am not sure why you are wanting to commit assault - if you are not happy with Scottish Power change supplier. Alternatively you can switch to paying quarterly. This will mean you do not need to pay £100 or more in the middle of summer when the heating is off. But, of course, over winter you will have to put money aside to pay the £600 or £800 quarterly winter bill when it arrives.

If you want to adjust your usage downwards and use less then your options are quarterly payments or prepayment meters. It will take time for direct debit payments to reflect your intention to use less.

There are no cheaper tariffs than the social tariff that I was on.
It is a case now of who is going to back down first!
It surely isn't going to be me.

I was quite happy paying £1010 a year for both Gas & Electricity, I would even be happy to pay £1200 a year as there have been no price rises on that tariff for the past 4 years.

Why should I switch when the cheapest is £1373 a year??

But Scottish Power now want £1800 a year - a complete joke.

We'll just have to see who wins and who backs down first.

victor2

It is unfortunate that you received very short notice of such a significant increase in the monthly DD amount. Even more unfortunate that you were unable to get through to them, so cancelled the DD and now SP say they can't put you back onto a tariff that no longer exists.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but you should have let the increased payment go through and contacted SP in writing if phoning was impossible. If they subsequently acknowledged their mistake, they would have sorted out the correct DD and probably credited you the extra they had taken.
I do not see any way they can now put you back on a tariff which new or existing customers cannot get.
If you calm down and contact them with a reasoned, polite, but official complaint, SP will be obliged to address it. If it goes in your favour, you may get a "goodwill gesture" to help cover the increased cost you will incur on a new tariff. You are of course entitled to shop around for the best available tariff if you still want to leave.

keith1950

Fit enough? It doesn't take much effort to put a 12 bore cartridge over their heads if they attempt to force entry into my home.

So you will point at shotgun at them when they arrive accompanied by the police......what an !!!!!!! !

We'll just have to see who wins and who backs down first.

You really do have an over-inflated opinion of yourself , don't you ?

macman

You ended the social tariff when you cancelled the DD in haste, and therefore broke your contract. You could simply have invoked the DD Guarantee with your bank if inadequate notice was given. Since the tariff is no longer available, you won't get it back-end of.
Switch suppliers to the cheapest elsewhere and move on.

Wywth

oldboy64 wrote: »

Hello. I wonder if some kind soul can tell me what I should do please.

For quite a few years I have been very happy on the 'fresh Start' social tariff with Scottish Power.

I have been paying a monthly DD for £84 which covered the bills.

Out of the blue I received a letter from them dated 19th July 2013, but delivered on Sat 3rd August!!!!
They simply, without any explanation told me that as from the 7th August they will start collecting £120 a month. I telephoned them on the following Monday (5th) and again on the Tuesday morning (6th) but could not get through after waiting ages. So I decided that they just can't increase it willy nilly without telling me why so I went to the bank on the Tuesday afternoon (6th) and cancelled the DD. That way they don't get any money until I am satisfied that they can prove to me that the £120 is reasonable.

Eventually I managed to get through to them on Sat 10th. I told them what had happened and what I wanted and that no more money was coming their way until they give me an answer.

Well I received a letter this morning telling me that the £120 would have been too high anyhow as they had reviewed my consumption and gave figures that I can now agree with - the Direct Debit should have been £100 a month instead of the £84 that I have been currently paying.

Unfortunately things have moved on now - I rang them today - as I have cancelled the DD, the Fresh Start social tariff has been cancelled and is no longer available - I have been put on the cash monthly standard tariff. The costs of the units now means that they now want a 'cash payment every month of £150!!

I told them that they could fly their kite with the £150 - and the most that I will pay them is what I should have been asked to pay in the first place - £100 a month. They said no and as I now have a debt with them (non payment of the last DD) and because of my refusal to pay them anything unless it is on my terms they will are to arrange for me to have prepayment meters installed.

Well it got a little heated after that when they told me that they will if need be obtain a warrant to force entry to change the meters - my final answer was - try it - one of us will end up in hospital if you do that!


How can I force Scottish Power to go back to the beginning (as they should have in the first place if only they had answered my telephone calls on the Mon & Tues.

It has gone now from a good social tariff to prepayment meters

with my fuel costs going up from £84 a month to over £150 a month!

We are both on very low income - wife is 70 and I'm 64, both disabled (AA & DLA) and receive Guaranteed Pension credit and a small amount (£2 a week) of Savings Credit. Because of that we can't even have the Warm Home payments - tried for the past 2 years but don't qualify because of the savings credit payment.

I thought SP offered a call back service?
You can either just apply online or they used to push this service if there was any waiting when you called them.
It saves you waiting and they call you back as soon as someone is available ... and that isn't a week later

oldboy64

keith1950 wrote: »

So you will point at shotgun at them when they arrive accompanied by the police......what an !!!!!!! !



You really do have an over-inflated opinion of yourself , don't you ?

No I just object to two things.

1. Being told that my monthly DD will go up from £84 a month to £120 a month and giving no explanation why

2. Having only being given two days notice before they intended taking the £120 a month out of my bank and having a system that did not accept numerous telephone calls that I made to them on those two days to try and talk to them to get some information why they wanted a 50% increase.

If someone attempts to break through my front door what do you suggest I do - offer them a cup of tea?

oldboy64

macman wrote: »

You ended the social tariff when you cancelled the DD in haste, and therefore broke your contract. You could simply have invoked the DD Guarantee with your bank if inadequate notice was given. Since the tariff is no longer available, you won't get it back-end of.
Switch suppliers to the cheapest elsewhere and move on.

That's what I thought I did. I told the bank that I am not willing to have £120 taken out of my account without proper notice and an explanation. The bank suggested that the way to go was to cancel the DD as they had no way of stopping payment and that it was a variable DD for any amount at Scottish Power's order.

There is no point in swapping as they are all charging the same give or take £50 a year. Plus after this episode I am very loathe to pay by DD in the future if I don't have any control over what goes out and when. It will be cash in future.