Scottish Power

PricklyPear

In a bit if a worrying state at the moment. We are on a standard tariff with no standing charge. We are paying £235 per month by direct debt with paperless bills. This is crippling us. This was before the letter I received today confirming that they are putting their prices up. Any advice would be much appreciated

googler

Switch off some appliances or devices?

Overnight, you don't need a PC, TV, HiFi etc, so power them down completely. Without knowing what's in your house, we can't really advise further...

PricklyPear

Ah, sorry...

We have rather a lot on standby overnight. The only thing that I am aware of that we were told not to unplug but leave on standby was our Humix top-box (we don't have sky).

I was just wondering whether it was worth switching to a fixed tariff or something like that.

Many thanks for your help ;-)

Mr_K

Nobody can answer that for you as we don't know your consumption or where you live. You need to go to a comparison site e.g. energyhelpine.com and put your details in - try a few comparison sites and see whats the best deal. Then you'd be best , clearing the cookies on your pc, and go via a cashback site (e.g topcashback) to sign up, for an extra monetary bonus.

Whether to choose a fixed deal ? It seems prices are going up but being on a variable tariff gives you more flexibilty. Don't fix for more than a year as a lots happening politically with energy prices at the moment and the industry may get forced to lower their prices.

Your DD does seem very high - anything involving heating uses a lot.

googler

Their website has comparison tools for the various tariffs ...

PricklyPear

Thank you ... Will have a look into it

Mr_K

googler wrote: »

Their website has comparison tools for the various tariffs ...

Yes but that would limit you to SP - you'd be mad just to look at one company. Starting with a new one means you can reset your DD at a level you're comfortable with They won't have access to your previous consumption - only what you tell them.

NittyGritty

PricklyPear wrote: »

Ah, sorry...

We have rather a lot on standby overnight. The only thing that I am aware of that we were told not to unplug but leave on standby was our Humix top-box (we don't have sky).

I was just wondering whether it was worth switching to a fixed tariff or something like that.

Many thanks for your help ;-)

my advice is to turn ALL things you leave on standby off, turn lights off when not needed and any other things you tend to leave on for no reason, it will all add up, however small.

the next thing you want to do NOW if you haven't already is to do a comparison by using one of the many sites out there, uswitch, confused to name a few to check if there are any cheaper deals out there for you.

for £235 a month it sounds you use a lot of energy, unless you got a lot in credit at the end of the year

macman

PricklyPear wrote: »

In a bit if a worrying state at the moment. We are on a standard tariff with no standing charge. We are paying £235 per month by direct debt with paperless bills. This is crippling us. This was before the letter I received today confirming that they are putting their prices up. Any advice would be much appreciated

So why on earth are you still on Standard tariff? It's the most expensive (variable) tariff there is.
A fix may or may not be cheaper over the full term. No one knows. Taking a fix is simply buying an insurance against possible future increases-and for that insurance you pay a premium.Given your very high DD level, it sounds as if you are in arrears? If that is more than about £200 then your supplier will probably block the switch.
Use your annual kWh figures on the comp sites, NOT your current monthly DD level.
PS: turning off your Humax PVR overnight will not make any practical difference to your usage. Most of your bill is made up of heating and hot water costs, plus big ticket white goods such as tumble driers. A couple of items on standby using a few watts is not relevant.

PricklyPear

We are not in arrears. We are £300 in credit but that will be taken up over winter (?)

We were initially approached by Scottish Power via a knock at the front door.

With a lot going on at home anyway when they called and still now, as usual this is something that doesn't take priority when really it should ;-)

BargainGalore

If your not in arrears then you must be using a lot of energy for paying that amount a month.I pay around £105a month for gas/electric. Having things on standby dont normal consume a lot so you wont save a lot by turning things off from standby.Normal high usage things are heating, cooking, and immersion heaters

You need to read your meter regularly to see what you daily usage is and to see what is using so much energy by switching things off