Scottish Power - refund & direct debit issues

andrew-b

Hi,

A couple of days ago (9/10) i submitted my meter readings and a new bill was generated. My account is now £59.34 in credit and i want this refunded ASAP.

However my direct debit is currently £80 a month but on my current usage (as per the new bill - though my own calculations using my own spreadsheet that i keep agrees) i should only be paying £77 a month. Our usage increased as at the beginning of the year we had a water leak and with the insurance claim we had dehumidifiers running constantly for about a month to dry the house out (insurance company recompensed for this but my energy usage at scottish power increased as a result and my direct debit was automatically increased - i just assumed i'd be able to lower it back again without any issues like i've done with every other energy company i have ever been a customer of).

In addition to this i am entitled to Warm Home discount as i am disabled and on benefits and unable to work. This amounts to £135 this winter. Effectively £11 a month. So what i should actually be paying is £66 a month . £168 less per year.

I would therefore like to lower my payment to £66 a month. I went online to try to do this but if i try to lower the payment to £66 it asks me for an advance payment of £200. Obviously this makes reducing my direct debit completely pointless as i would effectively be paying far more than i would save! I consider this an extremely unfair way of treating their customers and now beginning to wish i'd never moved to Scottish power!

So i then tried to phone....i didn't want to arrange a callback as it said it wouldn't be for 3 hours but wanted to speak to someone - then the phoneline said i would have to wait 3 hours or so....on an 0845 number!! I therefore went back online to try to arrange a callback...guess what the form wouldn't let me pick a timeslot as it said they were all booked up!

So then i thought i'd try use the contact form but that wanted a meter reading - i've already provided this!

So in summary i need a refund of £59.34 and to reduce my direct debit to £66 a month (WITHOUT any advance payment as this would send me overdrawn) but i'm struggling to get hold of anyone to sort this out!

thriftylass

Some companies only give you a refund if you are over a certain amount (i know, money making scheme, mine for instance only give the money back if I have over £150 in credit until I leave or use it), check the T&C. Also with the winter months coming up they probably want to make sure that your credit and your DD covers the increased usage. You'll be more likely to achieve a payback and DD reduction in summer I would say.