Help/ Advice Regarding scottish power

*hollie*

I moved into a rental in April. Scottish Power was the provider ( which I knew nothing about ) my switch to Bulb took about a month 

My bill from 26th April - 21st May is 270£ 

This is for one adult and a small child. No TV, minimal use of lights, the heating has hardly been on. Low use of washing machine
I have never paid this much for less than a month of electricity ever. the next month with bulb was just under 100£ 

Firstly I can't afford to pay that much money for electricity, and secondly, I was not informed of Scottish power being the provider. They are clearly more expensive than other providers 

Does anyone have any help or advice? Thanks 

Gerry1

Unfortunately you seem to have made most of the classic mistakes.

You should have registered with the incumbent supplier and sent a meter reading as soon as you took possession.  Sounds like the lettings agent hasn't served you well.

If you didn't send a meter reading then you may be paying for the use by the previous tenant and / or any period of non-occupancy.  Similarly, if you haven't been sending monthly readings then your usage will have been estimated and your bill may not be accurate.

Unless you have a smart meter there's probably not much you can do now if the opening reading is not known.  However, send a meter reading now and see whether that makes the bill more acceptable.

You will have to pay for the energy that you have used but you should ask for a payment plan if you can't pay it all at once.

Once you have settled the arrears you can switch to a cheaper provider.  You'll have to guesstimate your consumption; start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch'.

[Deleted User]

All properties have a deemed supplier. I assume that you read the meters when you moved in: if not, you may be paying for energy used by the previous tenant. These problems are tricky to resolve if you failed to contact the deemed supplier with a meter reading when you first moved in. The deemed contract that you were on would be at SP’s highest rate. 

Robin9

@*hollie* What meter reads did you give to Bulb?

QrizB

*hollie* said:

Does anyone have any help or advice? Thanks 

As others have said, can you share your meter readings?

• The day you moved in
• The opening reading you gave to Bulb
• The reading Bulb used for your June bill
• Your reading today

Also, what bulb tariff are you on? How many pence per kWh and how many pence per day standing charge?

welshmoneylover

Probably didn’t take meter readings and the bill has estimated reads.

MWT

*hollie* said:

Firstly I can't afford to pay that much money for electricity, and secondly, I was not informed of Scottish power being the provider. They are clearly more expensive than other providers 

Does anyone have any help or advice? Thanks 

This is almost certainly not about how expensive they are, just that you are not being billed accurately.

When you moved in did the letting agent give you the electricity meter reading?

If so is this the opening reading shown on your bill?

Similarly when you switched to Bulb you will have had to provide them with a meter reading, is this the same as the closing reading on your bill?

*hollie*

QrizB said:

*hollie* said:

Does anyone have any help or advice? Thanks 

As others have said, can you share your meter readings?

• The day you moved in
• The opening reading you gave to Bulb
• The reading Bulb used for your June bill
• Your reading today

Also, what bulb tariff are you on? How many pence per kWh and how many pence per day standing charge?

moved in 26th April 

readings on that day 

26th April 

28168 ( night ) 

43357 ( day ) 

22 may 

28633 ( night ) 

44463 ( day ) 

Bulb - Tarrif 

Unit rate

18.73p per kWh

Standing charge

23.60p per day

Type

Vari-Fair

the estimate per month was 56.54 when I used a comparison site. The first month bulb bill was 157.00 , which is almost 100 less then scottish power charged for the first month 

QrizB

Working on those numbers:

• 28633-28168 = 465
• 44423-43357 = 1056
• 465+1056 = 1521
• 1521 x 0.1873 = 284.88
• 26 x 0.236 = 6.14
• 284.88+6.14 = £291.02 total bill
  

... and that's using your Bulb tariff that you say is cheaper than your SP one was!

You stated that your first month with Bulb gave a bill of just under £100. What meter readings did you submit for that?

One thing that jumps out is that you are using a huge amount of electricity, 58kWh per day. Even for an all-electric property that's high if you've not been using any heating.

Do you have a hot tap somewhere which doesn't close properly and is always running?

Robin9

*hollie* said:

the estimate per month was 56.54 when I used a comparison site. 

Presumably these based on your consumption figures ?  Where did you get them from ?

Other posters of this forum have talked about £80-90 a month.


You haven't by any chance either got underfloor heating or those panels filled with magic dust ?

Gerry1

*hollie* said:

QrizB said:

*hollie* said:

Does anyone have any help or advice? Thanks 

As others have said, can you share your meter readings?

• The day you moved in
• The opening reading you gave to Bulb
• The reading Bulb used for your June bill
• Your reading today

Also, what bulb tariff are you on? How many pence per kWh and how many pence per day standing charge?

Bulb - Tarrif 

Unit rate

18.73p per kWh

Standing charge

23.60p per day

Type

Vari-Fair

Oh dear, going for Bulb's Veri-Dear tariff was another big mistake.

I've just signed up to a 13-month fix at 12.977p/kWh plus 10.00p/day inc VAT.

It may be a bumpy ride because it's with Symbio, but so far it's been completely smooth sailing.