Fixed price tariff vs price cap

ClaireH79

Please could someone help,  we don't know where else to go for advice. 

We've always used price comparison sites to switch to the best energy deals.  In October last year my husband got an email to say our deal with Shell was coming to an end.  He used a price comparison site and input our previous years usage.  Scottish Power came out as the best deal at £134 per month by direct debit.  We were previously paying £117 with Shell and we knew prices were increasing so we accepted the deal at £134 per month.  

In December 2021 we received an email to say we weren't paying enough and they were changing our direct debit to £268 per month.  We challenged this as we can't afford it and they said we were using more energy.  We pulled up usage figures from the previous year and established we were in fact using less energy. We queried why they'd set the initial direct debit at £134 if it was clearly not enough... they couldn't tell us why but it was down to the comparison site. We feel we were mis-sold the deal as we would be paying much less if we had reverted to the standard tariff and therefore protected by the price cap.  Can we do anything now? Can we go back onto the price cap? 

Our current tariff with Scottish Power is called "Fixed price December 2022 M2"

Our estimated annual cost is £2,346 for a 3 bed semi with 2 adults. As you can see this is well above the price cap. It just feels morally wrong to recommend this to us when the standard rate is cheaper? 

We'd be so grateful for any help,  we're really stressed about this situation

ClaireH79

This is the tariff 

Verdigris

No, you can't go back to the SVT but come April you'll be pleased with the rates you're paying.

molerat

Have you worked out your annual costs yourself ?  What are your annual kWh use figures for each fuel and did you input those into the comparison site ?

I usually double check against the comparison site quotes and they are within pennies of my calculations so this is either a case of bad figures being input or SP getting greedy.

Astria

If you go back on the variable you'll be paying far more than that, so personally, I'd keep that tariff. It may seem expensive now, but it'll be dirt cheap soon

QrizB

ClaireH79 said:

Please could someone help,  we don't know where else to go for advice. 

Our current tariff with Scottish Power is called "Fixed price December 2022 M2"

We'd be so grateful for any help,  we're really stressed about this situation

As everyone else has said, that tariff is much less than the April cap so you'll get nine months (April - Dec) at a cheaper rate than anyone on the variable tariff would (you can check the current and future capped variable tariffs at the links in my signature).

You willl be paying more for the next six weeks but, even taking that into account, leaving the fix now is unlikely to help overall.

I see from your bill that you're using about 12kWh/day of electricity and 100kWh.day of gas. The electricity consumption seems pretty normal but gas is relatively high. Do you know your estimated annual consumption? It should say on one of the other pages of your bill.

In October last year my husband got an email to say our deal with Shell was coming to an end.  He used a price comparison site and input our previous years usage.  Scottish Power came out as the best deal at £134 per month by direct debit.  We were previously paying £117 with Shell and we knew prices were increasing so we accepted the deal at £134 per month. 

Do you still have the email from the price comparison site? It should tell you the details of how it priced your tariff options, and those might help shed some light on things.

The_Fat_Controller

@ClaireH79

DO NOT look at the estimated monthly payments unless you have actually put your annual usage figures into the comparison or company website.

Boris_Blank

Your bill is showing you as being £519.25 in debit, are you paying quarterly or something as there are no payments (credits) shown on your bill?

Its the £519.25 debit figure that will have triggered the increase in the monthly direct debit.  Double check that your monthly payments are actually going through as they aren't showing (i.e. where's the previous monthly payments of £134 ??).

Your energy usage is generally higher in winter and lower in summer so should balance out.

ClaireH79

Boris_Blank said:

Your bill is showing you as being £519.25 in debit, are you paying quarterly or something as there are no payments (credits) shown on your bill?

Its the £519.25 debit figure that will have triggered the increase in the monthly direct debit.  Double check that your monthly payments are actually going through as they aren't showing (i.e. where's the previous monthly payments of £134 ??).

Your energy usage is generally higher in winter and lower in summer so should balance out.

That bill is only for 12 days.  We're currently paying £166 per month but it's not covering it.  We'll need to pay about £210 to cover usage and then more towards the debit each month 🤷‍♂️ it really is ridiculous

Boris_Blank

Ok, but your bill does not show any credits, is the £166 a month actually being received by Scottish Power??

PennineAcute

What were the figures you used in the comparison site?

£2520 for a three bed semi at those rates is a lot of usage.