Massive Bill from Scottish Power

covcouple

Hi, I don't know if anyone can help. We moved to Wales three years ago, The house we bought had been a holiday cottage before and used an few weeks of the year. I contacted Scottish Power as they delivered the electricity for the people before and advised them we had moved in but I wasn't sure how much electicity we would be using. I went though everything with a nice man and agreed to pay £100 a month via direct debit and we would review it after three months when the next bill came through. Unfortunatly they forgot to move us to a quarterly bill so we got a bill after a year... but it was estermated and they had gone on the previous occupants usage which of couse was minamal. I called up and gave them the proper reading and they said we owed £2000! I called again and was told they would look into it. Since then I have called a few times and our bill has gone up to "250 a month to try and clear the backlog but I have just had this years bill and its still £2662 after using 11661kwh of energy last year! They want me to pay £397 a month and I just cant afford it. Am I stuck with Scottish Power until I can clear this or If I go to another supplier will I be able to arrange to pay the arrears off seperatly?

molerat

SP will block a move with that level of debt. The other option is to have a pre pay meter installed and pay less back per week but at a higher unit cost. You need to be pro active and read and submit your meter at least monthly.

You are using a high amount of electricity so need to figure out where it is going. Read the meter daily for a while and keep a log, then go to weekly. Post up some figures and unit & SC prices. How do you heat / HW the property ?

JJ_Egan

Have you never taken meter readings since you moved in ??

Cardew

Assuming you use electricity for heating and hot water, 11,661kWh pa is not that high and on their cheapest tariff would cost £1506. using a Cardiff postcode


Your obvious problem is the arrears from the previous years.


Obviously they will not allow you to move to another supplier with that level of debt. If they did allow people to switch with large debts many people would simply move from supplier to supplier leaving a trail of debts that would never be paid.

patman99

Try this if possible. Turn off your power at the MCB (big red lever) then see if the meter still turns over (either dial spins or light flashes. Wait 30 minutes and take a second reading. Has it gone up ?. If so, then either there are two properties inadvertantly conected to the meter, or the meter is faulty.

If the meter stays still and the reading dosn't go up then you can restore power and start looking at ways to cut your energy usage, such as replacing all the light bulbs with LED ones (available from AliExpress for around £1.90 a bulb), installing a log burner, only heating the room you use the most (if all electric). You don't need to heat the hallway, landing or any of the bedrooms all day long.

Have you got Economy7 heaters ?. Bin and replace with oil-filled radiators (saved about £50 per quarter doing this in my place).

Look for grants available to improve the energy efficiency of your home (free loft/cavity insulation or double glazing).