scottish power

clairacluck_2

hi I wonder if someone could offer some advice. im renting my first ever home and have been here since 20 feb this year. its a 1 bed bungalow very small. when I moved in dual tariff was with edf and very expensive so I compared and changed to Scottish power fixed energy april 2018. I started paying 50.00 a month for gas and electric which as far as I know is good deal. this week I have had an email from Scottish power after sending them my meter readings that it has not gone up to 58.00 a month. electricity was 26 and gas 24 a month. new bill amount says change is electricity 18.00 and gas now 40.00. I don't under stand how gas can be so much more. I have a gas boiler that I have on for 1 hour a day maybe two but rarely, nothing else is gas in the property. im a bit confused by it all being in my first home. does this sound normal many thanks

Neil_Jones

You have a fixed energy tariff which means the unit costs of the gas and electricity will not rise until April 2018. It doesn't mean what you pay Scottish Power will not rise.

It's fairly common for people to think, "ooh my deal's fixed until April 2018 and I'm only paying £50 a month, let's run the central heating 24/7". doesn't work like that unfortunately.

You have taken meter readings and given them to Scottish Power since you moved in and this week I presume?

Don't forget going into the summer your gas usage (and electricity probably also) will usually plummet until the autumn and you'd build up credit for the winter when you'll use a lot more.

dogshome

It takes a full year to get a handle on how much Gas & Elect you will use in 12 months - So at this time with only appx 6 months figures, it is still a guessing game for both you and Scot Power.

You say you were notified of the D/Debit increase by Email, but have you had the actual bill? - It's vital you give SP regular meter readings, say every 90 days, and you get regular bills.
NOTE
Scot Power have software system problems and wise customers make a note of their meter readings every month

The rule of thumb is that you will use 80% of your Gas consumption in the winter months - The Elec is fairly consistant with maybe a 20% increase in winter
This year in our region, Winter lasted until the last week in May !

clairacluck_2

i know its hard to say but do you think 40.00 a month for no heating on and just gas boiler on for 1 hour a day 2 max seems about right.

House_Martin

If you don t believe what Scot Power are saying the only way is to watch the gas meter units yourself and monitor the bill. don t forget a good chunk of that £40 monthly bill will be standing charges which you will pay if you don t use any gas or electric at all. I pay £15 a month for an unoccupied house I own ,just for standing charges of around 28 p a day per meter, so I have switched to Ebico who do not levy standing charges

badmemory

I've been with Scottish Power for some time and enter my meter reading every month on the same date. This generates a bill. My biggest problem has been their desire to reduce my direct debit. If you don't input imformation yourself then you are dependent on computer says. Computers work on the basis of good info in good info out OR rubbish in rubbish out. So you need to take control. Have you the meter reading from when you moved in? Does this match your first bill? If it doesn't why is that? Have you done a recent meter reading? How is that comparing with any bills you have? Does your bill say actual, estimated or customer?

This boils down to take control enter meter readings regularly and monitor how it is doing yourself. Would you go through a supermarket and get to the checkout and let someone say that trolley full will cost you £40 if you thought it would be less?

footyguy

House_Martin wrote: »

... so I have switched to Ebico who do not levy standing charges

Other suppliers with zero standing charges are available, and some are considerably cheaper than Ebico :money:

(Of course, if you use nothing you pay nothing with zero standing charges, no matter what the unit rates are, but most empty houses use something, if only for security lighting, cameras, lighting used when doing inspections, particularly during the winter, burgular/smaoke alarms, etc if not quite considerable amounts of energy for heating over winter)

The CEC allows you to filter for zero standing charge tariffs, but I would recommend not using the filter - if a zero standing cahrge tariff is chepest it will be at the top of the list without any filters anyway ... and if a zero standing charge tariff is not top of the list it will not be the cheapest option