scottish power over charging me?

fattymcskinny

hi i moved in this property last year and have the prepaid meters installed for both gas and electric. i do go into the emergency sometimes as my baby is in hospital quite a lot my problem is when ever i put more money in the meter it takes the emergency (as expected) and it takes a massive standing charge they say its normal but i dont think £6 for 3-4 days in emergency is normal? am i going mad? this is on both the gas and electric

[Deleted User]

We all pay standing charges, with a few exceptions. Its always been like that. They seem to be around £1.80 a week, electric and £1 20 on gas on the prepays I see. You can see the standing charge price on one of the screens if you scroll through the menu, so if you owe £4 emergency and your credit coincides with the standing charge deduction time, £6 could easily disappear in one go. Best option is , if possible,is to switch to credit meters where you can get much cheaper tariffs and yearly fixes much cheaper than prepays which are on standard variable tariffs

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/pdf/SP_Customer_Charter_PREPAYMENT_-_Nov_12.pdf

Standing charges are a fact of life I'm afraid, and using emergency credit only shifts the payments from a gradual basis to a larger one off amount.

As sasquacco says, it's far far better to have a credit meter.

fattymcskinny

i wasnt fully in the emergency it took what i owed and then charged me the £6. i dont have a debt on the meter either. and the gas takes it off automatically at 2am so i should be charged another set on top im really confused and at this point skint trying to claw my way back

[Deleted User]

fattymcskinny wrote: »

i wasnt fully in the emergency it took what i owed and then charged me the £6. i dont have a debt on the meter either. and the gas takes it off automatically at 2am so i should be charged another set on top im really confused and at this point skint trying to claw my way back

There is standing charge debt which can mount up if you havent credited for a few weeks. Screen A would show either a minus sign or the word "debt " above the amount on the screen. Debt owed screens are on "S" electric, and , I think, on 26 on gas prepay

Nada666

Are you sure you are not forgetting to include the amount to restore your £5 emergency credit with a standing charge? The standing charge should not be much more than £1.89 per week (for most - check your actual tariff's prices.) If you are topping up after going into emergency only a few days later or less than two weeks later then you will easily eat up £6 before you have repaid your past consumption. Up to 70%, I think, of any top-up can go to repaying standing charges. So the first £10 will only give you three or four pounds credit.

fattymcskinny

no its taking the emergency separate and then charging me £6 standing charge im never in emergency for more than 4 days surely £6 is too much for 4 days :S

Nada666

Okay, sorry. I re-read your first post and you did say that. Dig through the screens and try to fathom out which figure is what and check your weekly repayment, standing charge and readings etc.

You should also take weekly or monthly readings over the long-term of actual readings (not just how much you put in.) Crunching those numbers may sort out that you aren't (or are) being overcharged.