Scottish Power £180 overcharge for 12 months

Kitch71

Hi all, Im a bit lost and could do with some advise...

Gas
Gas Provider: Scottish Power
Gas Tariff: Online Fixed Price Energy January 2014
Gas usage: 3875 kWh per year

Electricity
Elec Provider: Scottish Power
Elec Tariff: Online Fixed Price Energy January 2014
Elec usage: 2164 kWh per year

Every comparison website I have tried tells me my bill for the last 12 months should have been £502 but speaking with SP I have actually paid £682.80 over 12 months. This figure has a huge discrepancy of £180. The figures above have been confirmed as correct yet to date SP have not been able to explain why there is such a huge difference.
Im completely miffed at this stage as even the most expensive fix until 2017 would have been cheaper by some distance than the £682 I have been charged for the last 12 months. I am sure this can not be right. Even the SP March 2015 fix I got a price for was only coming in at £595.
I have been overcharged haven't I? I have checked the rates stated on the comparison sites with SP and although there is a very small difference in the figures there is not nearly enough to explain the £180 gap.

I just cant make the math add up, surly there is no way all this years deals can be cheaper than what I was paying for the last 12 months!!

Any thoughts advise would be very gratefully received.
Many thx.

sam.4000

Have you taken the standing charges into account?

Kitch71

Thx Sam... There is no SC on my current deal.

There maybe a 5% difference due to the comparison sites not including vat. But that will only be a tenner or so difference on the £180 I'm confused over.

I cant even find a deal that expensive for my usage now!?!
I have spent about 8hrs this week trying to get some confirmation from SP. They left a message this afternoon saying the charges are correct but I just cant see how they can be. Even the support team I have been speaking with were as confused as me over the figures discrepancy especially when compared to their own latest deals.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

don't think you can claim to be over charged if you singed up for the January 2014 deal.

You are doing a price comparison now, but did you do a price comparison before signing up.

Kitch71

Thx Frugal. Not entirely sure how you mean.

The deal I signed up for with SP was 12+months ago (ends Jan 1st 2014) so I have been there for a smidge over 12 months these are the figures I am using to compare. Costing me £682 for 365 days.

Uswitch and CEC for example compared the figures for my remaining 2 months plus 10 months on SP standard package. Which should be a higher cost than in theory than I should have paid last year. Yet the figures for all the new deals are a lot cheaper than I payed for my last 12 months. Hope that makes sense.

Not wanting to confuse the issue but as an example I have just signed up for the EDF March 15 deal and the cost of this based on the numbers in the original post comes in at about £85 cheaper than I payed for the last 12 months. How can this be right?

Last yr SP = £682
EDF quote for next 12 months based on the same figures £564

Nada666

Have you calculated yourself what that usage should have cost?

What was the reading when you first joined Scottish Power? What was the reading when you switched to the Jan 2014 tariff? Do you know that the readings were correct?

Are you sure you don't have a credit on your account? Are you paying quarterly or by direct debit? If MDD then you should easily have £180 built on your account for winter.

Kitch71

thx Nada.

I joined on October 10 2013. Straight on to the jan 14 deal as a new customer.
I have not worked out the figures myself mainly as Im not sure of the math nor do I have all the figures. (its a 2 rate system and couldn't be sure Id get it right)

I gave the meter reading when I joined and was correct at the time to the best of my knowledge. I didn't keep a record of the numbers at the time but am fairly confident that isnt the issue.

Although I have had a new meter installed about 2 months ago. That number I do have written down on my new box. I have considered that this maybe where an issue has come from but what to do? Im not sure but am wondering, as I was asked by SP, if the first meter was imperial and my new meter is metric but again I have no way of knowing if this is the case although if pushed I would say that maybe the old meter had less numbers on than the new one indicating that the original one may have been imperial.

The main thing that has alarm bells ringing is that I cant, even after the price hikes, find a deal as expensive as what I have been charged over the last 12 months.

sam.4000

I have run your figures through a price comparison website and get similar figures to you so I can see why you are questioning it. But I did find that the tariff called unifi capped energy NSC January 2014 bought it out at £679. Have you checked double checked the tariff you are on?
There are lots of different ones that end in January 2014, I counted about 20 different tariffs.

Kitch71

Thx for your time Sam very good of you.

I have checked and according to SP I am on the deal I stated although those figures you mention are worryingly close to my actual costs. I will question this again when I next speak with them.

Thx for confirming Im not going completely mental.

Kitch71

Back after a dinner break... Feels like I should be getting paid for this lol Anyway...

I have just checked the name of my tariff product which is Online Fixed Price Energy January 2014 (No Standing Charge)

As you say Sam, great shout btw, there are many different tariffs ending Jan 14 but all are prefixed differently ie Platinum Unifi Online etc Best I can deduce is that we have both looked at the correct tariff although the one in the list omits the (No Standing Charge) bit... But that said this is the only "Online Fixed deal" ending in Jan 2014 leading me to the conclusion that I am comparing with the right tariff.

Having said all that there were small differences in the unit charges shown on Uswitch/CEC when compared to the numbers given to me over the phone from SP. I raised this discrepancy with support and was told that the difference in figures would not have made a huge difference over the year.

But maybe this is a clue that I am on a different rate than the tariff I signed up for last year/I am comparing with now? Are the comparison sites to be trusted with the figures they use/get from the companies? Surely they must be otherwise the comparison system would be completely worthless.

Aurghhh my head hurts.

andrew-b

Is the £682 the amount you've paid by direct debit? If so then maybe your direct debits are set higher than your usage and so your account would be in credit.

When you login to your scottish power online account it will tell you how much in credit or debit you are. You can also see what payments you've made and what you've been billed and when.

The prices given on the price comparison websites are the actual energy costs on that deal not what your direct debit payments were. Also as you've noted because the Jan 2014 is near to ending the comparison website will switch to the standard prices after the 2 months remaining on the fix deal. If you use energyhelpline.com to do the price comparison when your presented with the results at top left you can switch it so it shows the yearly cost on the fix price deal for 12 months which is a more useful comparison in my opinion (click the red link "find out more by clicking here" at top left and then "return to standard results" rather than weighted).