How much is too much- paying in advance ?

betterlatethannever

Hi
Currently with Scottish Power on standard rate ( upto March this year I was on Freshstart,)

My monthly payment to them is £102 for a small two bed flat with 2 adults, both at work a lot.

My next proper bill is due in July, by which time I'll be well over £500 in credit!

Is this too much for the time of year or will it balance out? should i wait the full year to see if I'm paying too much?

JJ_Egan

Do you not know what last years usage was ??.
Why are you on the expensive standard tariff ?

betterlatethannever

Hi
last years usage was
Gas: 15252
Elec: 1645
But these were with one adult being home all the time.


I was moved to the standard tariff by SP when they got rid of freshstart.

t0rt0ise

Find a better deal with something like uSwitch. That'll tell you how much you will need for the year. Then it's up to you whether you pay now for the winter or not.

Richie-from-the-Boro

CAC÷12≈ £pm

I assume you were on a 12 month payment plan of use ÷12 when you were on 'freshstart'. If you ask SP for your 2014-2015 'calculated annual consumption' then divide it by 12 that would be a good minimum payment per month to ensure you never get into the red in the colder winter months and keep you on the same payment plan. You would have had to leave the excellent but now discontinued 'freshstart', but should have asked what their cheapest non-'freshstart' tariff was rather than automatically allowing them to default you onto their standard tariff.

£500 seems high, at this time of the summer cycle I would have expected to be £100 in credit immediately after just paying your bill and moving from 'freshstart' to a standard tariff. If you have no home~alone all winter occupying the dwelling in the daytime you can expect a nice payment reduction windfall from the drop in usage.

Pincher

I was about £350 in credit, so I changed the monthly DD amount to £45 by going to "My Account", then "Manage My Payments". For some unknown reason, they needed a debit card to deduct £5 from, but so far they haven't abused it. They are doing the £45 DD from the bank account as expected.


I expect they will simply ramp it up to £200 a month by December 2014, so it's hardly worth the effort.


An interesting side effect of DD from a Santander 123 current account is the cashback. If I overpay Scottish Power, Santander will overpay the cashback too. So what happens if I switch? If Scottish Power sends me a refund cheque, Santander won't get any of it.