Scottish Power high payment

Gerard1

We had a letter from Scottish Power saying we had overpaid by over £1000 and they were reducing our payment to £8 per month in April 2016. We had a further letter in April 2017 that we were still in credit but payment would go up to £30 per month. April 2018 another letter saying we had not paid enough and now owe them £2000 and payments going up to £256 per month which is more than our mortgage.
This month we get another letter saying our usage for the last year is £1430 which is only £119 per month and our estimated usage for the next 12 months would be £2238.

How can they estimate a rise of nearly £1000 in a year when the price rise was only about 5%.

I think they need to go back to school and do Arithmetic as their calculations make no sense to me.
I contacted the helpline and was told to ignore it as it was only an estimate but am sure their direct debits are made on estimates.

matelodave

Why dont you do your own sums and then you can ensure that your DD's are set so that you dont either under or overpay.

It only needs you to read your meters once a month, send the info into the supplier and CHECK your bills to make sure that they are correct.

Five to 10 minutes once a month will save you no end of grief.

The_Fat_Controller

If you can afford it and Scottish Power offer it, move to Whole Bill Monthly Direct Debit as I have done with EDF.
They read my smart meter monthly and I get a bill for exactly what I have used.
I am now paying in arrears and not lending EDF my money.
As it is still paid by Direct Debit, all tariffs are still available to me.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Question. Is your bill an estimate?

poppellerant

This may have been caused by either an incorrect meter reading or the energy supplier estimating your usage. Either way, it is for you to check your bills and that the meter reading are correct and not estimated.

As above, it takes a few minutes to do each month. But a lot of people don't bother, then wonder why they get these massive bills.

dogshome

An oft reported problem with Scot Power is that whilst the customer has signed up for both Gas & Elec and is paying a D/Debit to cover these, SP only send out bills covering just the Elec or Gas, but not both - Hence the build up of massive credit figures - Check exactly what's shown on the bills



It's all done by a computer, that seeing a large Credit will return cash and lower the D/D's - Then someone at SP wakes up and starts billing the Gas which puts the account in deficit because the money the customer paid for the gas has been returned and the D/D is not covering the Gas used.
Sorting the account out at this point is very hard work


However if indeed this is a problem of Gas or Elec not being billed, the Back-billing rules apply.
This means that SP cannot bill for the non-billed fuel further back than 12 months from the date they did managed to send out the first bill for it

matelodave

It's not difficult to read you own meter, do your own sums and then make sure that the bill agrees.

If it doesn't then check your sums and then check the bill and get it corrected if it's wrong.

You dont get surprises, nor should you end up with massive over or underpayments because your direct debits should reflect your consumption and costs.

Take control and don't leave it the energy supplier. It's your money so look after it yourself.

cajef

Gerard1 wrote: »

but am sure their direct debits are made on estimates.

Only if you do not give them your readings.

I am with Scottish Power on a dual fuel tariff, every three months I get an email asking for my readings provided I give them within seven days an online bill is generated based on those readings and there is a option to adjust the DD but only if needed, if I don't give them they then estimate the bill.