Overusing gas + leckie compared to estimate - Scottish Power

catoutthebag

Hey

To cut to the detail.

Live on my own in a flat, 15 months. Estimations from previous occupier (who wasn't at the property all the time), put my monthly debits at £25. This increase to £27.

Based on previous experiences, this seemed low, but I wasn't going to argue obviously as I barely used power (only turn boiler on when I need water or heat, barely watch TV etc, out the flat a lot etc).


So give my readings now, and I have about £80 deficit, which apparently rose from £40 the last 3 months.

I was fuming as they hadn't told me and plus I can't explain the jump given my usage. Gas had hardly gone up. The adviser couldn't explain it either.

The other cheaper tariffs had £60 cancellation fee, so I was not interested.

They say I should really pay £40 to cover usage. I was fuming.

We agreed to up it to £35 to chip away at My balance.

Annoyed I wasn't told.
Annoyed I barely use the power.
Annoyed that there's an unexplained jump.

So

Do I accept I was underpaying and now back to reality?

Do I switch provider?

Does £35-40 sound reasonable for a low usage single person?

Do I make a complaint to the ombudsman?

Thanks

Rubidium

Why do you think that this is all your suppliers fault?

The meters are in your property and you should know the details of your tariff and therefore know how much you need to be paying to cover your actual usage.

Switching to another provider will not help if you can't be bothered to supply regular meter readings.

The ombudsman will not be interested in your "problem".

Get some gorm!

libf

catoutthebag wrote: »

Does £35-40 sound reasonable for a low usage single person?

I was paying £35/month in an all electric one bed flat with night hearing on Economy 7. Since moved to a 3 bed semi and now paying £48/month with gas central heating and cooking.

catoutthebag

Rubidium wrote: »

Why do you think that this is all your suppliers fault?

The meters are in your property and you should know the details of your tariff and therefore know how much you need to be paying to cover your actual usage.

Switching to another provider will not help if you can't be bothered to supply regular meter readings.

The ombudsman will not be interested in your "problem".

Get some gorm!

You sound gormless because you assume I wasn't providing readings. I was every time it was requested, but was never told about the deficit TIL TODAY.
I'm not going to sit there like an anorak, watching my meter tick over, gorm

catoutthebag

libf wrote: »

I was paying £35/month in an all electric one bed flat with night hearing on Economy 7. Since moved to a 3 bed semi and now paying £48/month with gas central heating and cooking.

Are you saying £40 sounds high for me then?

JJ_Egan

>>Annoyed I wasn't told.>>
Not sure at what point a user should be told they are underpaying .

>>Annoyed I barely use the power.
Annoyed that there's an unexplained jump.>>

But your own meter readings will proof your usage .Have you checked them .

You say over using compared to estimate . That the problem with an estimate its not real its a guess .

Jonesya

You can't really tell a lot from the overall costs and estimated monthly bills and estimated amounts for direct debits are just that, rough estimates that will change as your real-life usage plays out.

The things you need to focus on are your usage - kWh of gas and electric so start reading your meter regularly, monitoring what you use and submitting your readings to your supplier. And get your bill out and check your tariff, the daily charge and the unit charges for gas and electric, punch them into a comparison site and see how they compare.

But the key thing us focus on the tariff rather than any estimated monthly cost/DD.

molerat

I pay my DD every month. I submit a read once a month. The screen shows my account balance immediately I enter the read ( 2 separate suppliers). I get a bill every month which confirms my account balance. I also calculate the bill myself before I enter the reads. Quite simple really.

OP, you have obviously hit an account reconciliation point which has triggered the change in payment.