Scottish power doubling my DD payment

veejay43

I got a message from Scottish power almost doubling my DD ,and said i was in debt by over 300, i was in credit 2 months ago 

When i joined them in May last year they had my meter readings from my previous supplier, who i was in credit with, and got £150  refund, i have always been in credit with all previous suppliers, even getting as much as £400 refund,

I have always paid above what the monthly payment was , so had a shock when told i was in debt with SP

The DD i was asked to pay was £70 a month, but i changed this to £85, as i thought £70 wouldn't cover winter usage

I KNOW PRICES HAVE RISEN AND THIS WINTER HAS BEEN COLDER THAN LAST YEAR, BUT I HAVE NOT USED MUCH MORE GAS AND ESPECIALLY ELECTRIC THAN NORMAL,

i DID HAVE AN EXTRA PERSON HERE FOR 3 WEEKS,Sorry caps on by accident, but only used one radiator extra, and not much extra cooking

I am now asked to pay £114 a month, which is a lot out of my pension,

Looking at the graph on my account there is a huge spike from December to now

I am in a HA house, and asked them to come and check my boiler and thermostat,

I do wonder if the fault is with this, as i can't get any heating on until the thermostat is at 20dg,

Surely the heating should come on at about 15 when really cold, as it always has done in the past

I am really annoyed more than anything with SPs response,

I will be leaving them this may when my contract runs out

I think possibly the starting amount was set too low

For more info,i live in a 3 bedroomed house,with large living room, only have radiators on in 1, mine,and it is on a timer, and never on all night

Any advice or thoughts welcome

For further information i am 77 and live alone

Neil_Jones

Are you providing regular meter readings?

You make mention of a radiator with a timer on it (?), do you have gas and electricity or just electric?

Gerry1

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/#whatyoupay

Robin9

veejay -  it's getting close to the end of your fix and SP may be trying to ensure your account is in balance at the end of it

Could you give us some meter readings please - when you started with SP and now.

How much have you paid SP to date - I guess 9 x £85 = £765 ?

veejay43

Thank you for all replies, only just seen them

Sorry i meant the heating is set on a timer, comes on at 7am and off at 10-30 pm

I will find the readings tomorrow

I realise that they will want to clear the balance,but they should have said when my meter readings went up at first,that i needed to pay more instead of  taking such a big amount at once

I also don't understand how i had so much refund from previous suppliers, and always in credit, and always paid more than asked for, as i did this time

They were reluctant to let me pay more from the start

I have cancelled my DD and will pay them what i can afford or set another DD up but can't pay £114 out of one weeks pension, i have other bills to pay ;plus a large vet bill

RelievedSheff

Be very careful cancelling direct debits. If they can't take the payment they will report it to the credit reference agencies as late payments and that will make getting credit more difficult and potentially make switching suppliers more difficult.

Set up the direct debit again and speak to your supplier. Tell them what you can afford to pay back and set up a payment plan to cover your use and pay back your debt.

You have your heating on for a very long time each day, almost 16 hours out of 24. Is that really necessary? Can you not reduce the amount of hours it is on to save some money?

MWT

veejay43 said:

I have cancelled my DD and will pay them what i can afford or set another DD up but can't pay £114 out of one weeks pension, i have other bills to pay ;plus a large vet bill

You may find that this will have put you on an even more expensive tariff, as the DD is often a condition of the tariff you are on...

veejay43

I have only another 6 weeks with SP so they can please themselves,i am going ring and make arrangements with them and finish with them

There must be something wrong somewhere for me to have so much refunded in the past to getting into debt with SP,

The little extra amount i have used this winter shouldn't have made such a huge difference to my bill

Also should have the warm home discount deducted

I have looked on reviews for SP and it seems a common thing to happen, been put on a too low DD to start with and then bumped up later and left with a debt

I am going to find my readings from last supplier,just not had time yet as had to go out and not been back long

I suffer with anxiety to start with and this has just made it 10 times worse

Will update when i can find my meter readings etc

MWT

veejay43 said:

I have only another 6 weeks with SP so they can please themselves,i am going ring and make arrangements with them and finish with them

There must be something wrong somewhere for me to have so much refunded in the past to getting into debt with SP,

The little extra amount i have used this winter shouldn't have made such a huge difference to my bill

Also should have the warm home discount deducted

I have looked on reviews for SP and it seems a common thing to happen, been put on a too low DD to start with and then bumped up later and left with a debt

I am going to find my readings from last supplier,just not had time yet as had to go out and not been back long

I suffer with anxiety to start with and this has just made it 10 times worse

Will update when i can find my meter readings etc

Looking for the meter readings is the best way to go, comparing the results in cash terms of previous payments and refunds isn't going to help highlight where, if anywhere, there has been a mistake.

Just compare the amounts you used with the your previous supplier to the amounts you have been using and check the calculations on the costs against the DD you've paid.

Trying to guess why you've had refunds in the past vs under payments now is ultimately pointless, just work from the actual consumption figures.

Richie-from-the-Boro

veejay43 said:

I have only another 6 weeks with SP so they can please themselves,i am going ring and make arrangements with them and finish with them

There must be something wrong somewhere for me to have so much refunded in the past to getting into debt with SP,

The little extra amount i have used this winter shouldn't have made such a huge difference to my bill

Also should have the warm home discount deducted

I have looked on reviews for SP and it seems a common thing to happen, been put on a too low DD to start with and then bumped up later and left with a debt

I am going to find my readings from last supplier,just not had time yet as had to go out and not been back long

I suffer with anxiety to start with and this has just made it 10 times worse

Will update when i can find my meter readings etc

WHD doesn't even get paid/rebated till end of this month.

I look on my SP online account iI can instantly see my kWh by year season month. You can do the same my friend.
Your  £150 then £400 refund last means you built a summer surplus, Then took the money out, then got into winter costs with no savings left. you really must [anxiety ?] stop seeing ££££ and start using kWh as a way of seeing your account.Best of luck.

veejay43

UPDATE; I have changed from Scottish power to Octopus, I posted previously about SP charging me what seemed like ridiculous amounts for the amount of fuel i was using

"Richine not sure what you mean by your last reply, i didn

/'t get into winter costs with no savings left as i  got these refunds at the end of my cotract with whichever company i was with at the time and started anew with next company

Anyway finally got away from SP queried the money they were asking for, which varied from month to month,as i said i stopped my DD as they were wanting to take £114 a month ,and i know i wasn't using that much gas or Electric

Because of lockdown  i spoke by chat on their website, was told i had been using a huge amount of electricity, which is rubbish

I live alone and use basic things like usual household appliances, thats all

I was asked to pay £78 , before i switched, to let me switch,i paid that ,then another £60, and another £60 then £25, before they let me switch,objections all the time

I was then asked for another £52,which i didn't pay as tried to ring and find out why they wanted all these payments before they agreed to switch,

I then got an email from Octopus saying i was now switched to them starting on 31st may as SP contract finished then,so assumed all was ok

Got my first bill [statement] from Octopus, but no Electricity one, even though i sent readings in for both,

Rang Octopus this morning and asked why, he said it must have been a glitch and would sort it manually,

He then told me that SP reading sent to them was a lot higher than my meter reading,

I don't know what is going on, but SP have somehow been saying my Electricty usage  higher than what it says on my meter

Also on my final statement [bill] from SP it says i have paid 2 payments of £52 and £60, which i never paid, hasn't even come out of my bank account,

So what is that all about? i haven't got a clue

Octopus are raising a dispute with SP about the last higher reading they sent, compared to my meter reading