Scottish power bill shock

Elliel16

Hi all,
I’m looking for some help or advice please. In December I received what I assumed were spam emails from Scottish power saying they were taking over my energy from Yorkshire energy, who had gone bust, I ignored these as I get frequent spam emails and had heard nothing from Yorkshire energy. 

By the time I discovered the emails weren’t spam I’d missed the cut off to provide my bank details for the direct debits.
I called Scottish in January and February to find out what was going on as I had not heard anything and wanted to provide my DD details. I was advised to check for the best rate and not provide my details (which I found odd but assumed the agent was trying to advise me to find a more cost effective provider).
I did a search of providers and decided to switch to bulb, they have completed the switch within a few weeks and kept me informed each step of the way.
I have finally received a final bill from Yorkshire of approx £80 (my monthly payments were approx £45, and my new provider is approx £100).
Today (my birthday ironicall) I woke up to an email from Scottish power with a bill for over £500 for energy from dec 6 to feb 28. Needless to say I am stunned. 

I am willing to pay for energy however this is 3x the cost of Yorkshire and 50%more than Bulb. 

I didn’t opt to switch to Scottish, it was done as Yorkshire went bust, I never signed anything or was spoken to about a tariff and the switchover took months, hence me moving away from them. What can I do?! I’m freaking out as this is much more than I budgeted for.
Thanks for any guidance!

Robin9

A few checks.

Does the final reading from  SP agree with what you gave Bulb?  

You didn't set up a DD with SP so there will be no credits against your bill.  You put this money aside ready for the bill.

It's been winter and a cold one at times.   I would expect your consumption to be higher than last year - is it ?  That will come at a cost.

Reed_Richards

You are now paying Bulb approximately £1200 per year.  If this is an accurate reflection of your annual expenditure, is it credible that you would use up £500 worth of energy between December 6th to February 28th?  That's almost 3 months and the coldest 3 months of the year; I would say that it is credible that you would use 5/12 of your annual total over that time.

Presumably you saved about £135 being the 3 monthly payments you didn't make to Yorkshire.  Why don't you offer that up-front to Scottish Power and negotiate to pay-off the rest of the £500 over a period of time.  You might also ask if you placed on the best tariff befitting your circumstances.   

keithgawler

Hi Ellie. Something doesn't compute. My YE annual bill was about £1800. I have just switched away from SP and my SP bill for the heavy winter months was approx £500 so yours sounds over the top. Build yourself a little spreadsheet (or back of an envelope) and step through your bills and double-check the maths. 
For info there's a forum a bit further down on here dedicated exclusively to the closure of YE - worth looking at that. I can't recall seeing any references on there to significant errors in final SP bills, but there must be an explanation for your big bill somewhere.

bagand96

As you now know Yorkshire Energy did go bust and all accounts were moved to Scottish Power as arranged by Ofgem. 

You do need to pay Scottish Power for energy used between 5th December and your switch to Bulb. 

Unfortunately because you didn't act in December, I assume no meter readings were given to Scottish Power or YE, so both sets of bills are likely to be estimated?

As stated above, a few checks to make on the bills...

- Do your readings on the final YE bill match the opening readings on your SP bill?

- Do the the closing readings on the SP bill match the opening readings on your first Bulb bill? (or if you've not had a bill yet, the readings in your Bulb account)

- How do those readings tie up with what your meters say today?

Elliel16

Thanks all - very helpful, I’m trying to get my hands on the bill from SP (currently cannot download and on with the help desk) have looked at the meter ratings last use with YE and Bulb and will do some further investigation. 

Will also speak to SP about the rate I’ve automatically been put on as it may not be the right one for me (i have eco7!)
the quest continues... 
thanks again!

Shedman

I think most ex YE that were switched to SP found that the increase in tariff and standing charge was in the order of 20-30% (although some did report higher).  So I would be extremely surprised if it was 3x higher than YE.  Just because you were paying YE £45 a month by DD doesn't mean that is all that your usage was, especially during 3 (cold) winter months (and given that your DD with Bulb is now £100 a month which is probably more representative).

The £500 charge from SP does look on the high side though but maybe not as out of line as you think (our annual bill with YE was in region of £1250 a year but over winter months was £130-160 a month so £400-£450 over a similar 3 month period).

As others have said you need to check the readings and do some calcs (or post them here with tariff info and others will have a go at working them out).

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Elliel16 said:

Thanks all - very helpful, I’m trying to get my hands on the bill from SP (currently cannot download and on with the help desk) have looked at the meter ratings last use with YE and Bulb and will do some further investigation. 

Will also speak to SP about the rate I’ve automatically been put on as it may not be the right one for me (i have eco7!)
the quest continues... 
thanks again!

May be a bit late to pick your own tariff given you are now with Bulb.

[Deleted User]

The most common reason for high charges in any given period (particularly in the period up to a Final Bill) is that previous bills have been based on estimates. The Final Bill is a catch-up bill that covers energy used in the period plus the energy not previously billed.

keithgawler

Hi Ellie
Suggest you keep trying to access your SP account online. My switch has just happened and I can still access my bills and I don't think they chop you off that quickly. Their software is recognised to be a bit flaky and in particular the app, so I always go in via the web. 
Also, I'm no expert but I'm sure I've seen some horror stories around SP and Eco7. You might want to seek advice on this from others on the YE forum.

phillw

[Deleted User] said:

The Final Bill is a catch-up bill that covers energy used in the period plus the energy not previously billed.

My Scottish Power final bill was also based on estimates, they wanted an extra £38.