Scottish Power - energy bill help!

ap1375

I was wondering if someone could help me with my recent energy bills from Scottish Power.

We moved into a 2 bed mid terraced house in August last year and remained with Scottish Power as this is what the previous tenants used. We were paying £80 per month for both gas & electricity until January when they put our bill up to £126 a month. We disputed this but was told there wasn't an issue with the readings and so we paid. We then stopped using the tumble dryer, made sure appliances aren't plugged in when not in use and yet I have received another bill today saying our bill is going up to £135 per month!

We are out of the house Mon-Fri from 6am until around 7pm and rarely use the heating as the house is so warm. Our neighbour (in the same row of houses, 2 bed terraced) is retired, home all day and pays significantly less than we are. Another neighbour is in a four bed detached house and still pays less than us. Scottish Power haven't been much help and our smart reader has been broken since we moved in. We requested a new one but were told they wouldn't be distributing until later in the year.

Are we able to switch provider even though we are now £345 in debit with Scottish Power?

Any help is appreciated!

Thank you.

Robin9

Question 1) When you moved in - did you give SP your meter readings
2) What tariff are you on
3) Have you been giving SP monthly meter readings
4) Are your bills full of E for estimates against the readings

ap1375

Hi Robin9,

thank you for your reply.

1. Yes we gave readings when we moved in from the fixed meter (our smart meter, the little black movable box has never worked).
2. We are on the Help Beat Cancer Fixed Price Energy August 2020 Online and have been told that there isn't a termination fee
3. unfortunately we haven't done this (we are first time buyers so wasn't aware this is a process) we will start to do this from now on
4 the bill readings have (S) for smart next to them. but I do not understand how this can be the case as the box doesn't even turn on?

many thanks

D_M_E

When you say THE BOX do you mean the little display which is plugged in inside the house?

Did you give the opening reading from the meter itself?

Have you checked the meter serial number on your bills against the serial number on your actual meter?

Could they be reading someone else's smart and allocating that usage to your property?

Do you have an immersion heater permanently turned on?

Robin9

[QUOTE=ap1375;75943365.........................as the box doesn't even turn on?

many thanks[/QUOTE]


Disconnect it - its called an In House Display (IHD) and put the toy in the back of the drawer like most other people.

The only meter you should read is the one in the outdoor box or garage. Read it monthly and keep your own records.

Read it and check the readings are correct and check the meter details as per D_M_E

Do you get monthly bills - online?

ap1375

Hi Robin9, D_M_E,

thank you for your help.

we have been taking daily meter readings and the electricity is going up by 8-10kwh a day. I appreciate you do not know the house set up but does this sound a lot of a 2 bed terraced?

We have unplugged the tumble dyer, removed all timers, etc but no change.

Thank you for your help

Gerry1

Forget the prices and payments, what is your annual consumption in kWh based on smart meter readings?

ap1375

We moved in the house 24 August 2018 and our last bill says our annual consumption is 3,749 kWh for elec and 11,615 kWh for gas.

It says our last bill daily average for elec was 10.2 kwh a day (high usage) and 31.8kwh for gas (medium usage) .

We had our boiler serviced a month ago and no issues with that.

thank you

Gerry1

You still haven't answered all the previous questions. The annual consumption will have been an estimate by SP. What is your usage to date based on actual meter readings from 24 Aug 18 to 26 July 19? Have your checked the number on the meter matches that on the bills? How do you heat the house and the water?

Bigphil1474

OP, I live in a 3 bed mid terrace, and my gas usage is similar to yours - 11,064 kWh last 12 months so a bit less for me. My electricity is much less, 3,004 kWh for last 12 months.
As others have said, forget what you are paying monthly, it's about the cost of the energy you use. Are you in credit or not. I'm with EDF and they tried to put my direct debit up from £80 a month to £90 a month in June, even though I was in credit then. In the end I had my direct debit reduced to £75 a month, but I'm still over £200 in credit and my year ends in August which is a low cost month anyway.
Sounds like it could be an electricity issue for you. You need to find all your bills, start reading, current reading, unit price etc. and double check all the maths. You should be able to access an online account.

ap1375

Hey, thank you for your replies.

August reading when we moved in - 2968
18 July reading - 6496

House and water heated via a combi boiler so no immersion heater.

Meter numbers match from bill to meter. We are now in £284.48 debit with SP.

I have printed all the bills so will go through and see what I can find

thank you