Scottish Power - can they do this?

AzureBlue

Hello everyone, I'm having a (direct debit) nightmare with Scottish Power and could do with some advice from you lovely Forumites.

They are saying I owe £450.00 after being with them for three months and have raised my direct debit to £183.00 per month 😳 but it does not seem to be accurate to me. I cannot afford this because I am on a low income due to illness (ESA) and this will cause me difficulties.

I switched from E.on last November because I was on a pre-payment smartmeter and wanted to avoid the price cap rise. ScottishPower offered me a Fixed Rate monthly contract until 2024, with the initial three months' direct debits being £63.00. They assured me I would not pay more than that, but would then recalculate my direct debit in March. So far, so good.... all three direct debits were paid efficiently.

However, two days after I made a complaint to ScottishPower for falsely claiming they could not access my smartmeter readings (they've now admitted they can!) they've sent me a massive £450.00 bill backdated for the last three months (which I've already paid my direct debit for). Can they do this?

Looking at the bill they've sent me, none of the metre readings make sense. When I called Customer Services they assured me I would not receive an estimated bill, but would only pay for energy I used. However, they now seem to have estimated annual usage from the last year (when I was with Eon) which they promised they wouldn't.

I've approached my local Citizen's Advice, but would really appreciate your collective forum knowledge.

1) Can I challenge the direct debit amount by holding them to their former promises of only charging me for actual energy use only?

2) Can I hold them to their previous promise that I would only ever be charged £63 in the first quarter?

3) Can I then get the £450 wiped?

P.s. This is my first energy contract paying by direct debit - be gentle 😉

Brie

Yes you can challenge them.  Yes you should log a complaint about being told they would only charge you £63 a month for the first 3 months.  But you should be aware that this might not be enough to cover what you are actually using.  

What you should do is post again with the initial reading and latest reading and how much you are actually being charged for your energy.  Someone will help to see if this is accurate and whether the additional £450 is warranted.  

In my experience companies tend to make wonderful alluring promises and then either deny they ever said that or try to wiggle out explaining why this was never feasible.  They will also want you to be in credit all the time with a couple of months worth of credit on the off chance you don't pay your bill for a prolonged period.  

They need to justify why your DD should be raised.  There may be a good reason for a small increase (very cold weather, increased energy use as a result) but they shouldn't base a full year's use on a very cold January/February - which I've had them try in the past.  It might be handy if you also could advise the amount of energy you used in the 12 months prior to switching as this would be a good basis of clocking your use and establishing a suitable DD.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

ok, did you provide start readings, and do they agree with bill?

Have you read meter to compare readings on latest bill?

Gerry1

No one offers All You Can Eat.  If you use more than expected you'll have to pay more than expected, unfortunately it's as simple as that.  If you can't afford to pay it now, ask for a payment plan.

However, you need to do the sums to confirm where you stand.  Take meter readings today and subtract the opening readings you gave to Scottish Power.

For electricity, just multiply the kWh usage by the kWh cost and add the daily charges.

For gas, subtract the opening VOLUME reading from today's volume reading.  You'll then have to multiply the volume (m3) by 11.2 to convert it to kWh, then do the sums in the same way as for electricity.

If the total usage to date significantly exceeds your DD payments then they will have to be increased accordingly.

An alternative might be to pay by Variable Direct Debit whereby you just pay for the exact amount you've used each time.  That stops you going into debit, but it means you'd have to set some money aside during the summer to pay the big winter bills.

jimexbox

First rule, never believe any energy rep as to how much your payments will be. DD amounts are not an indicator of any future bills. It's purely down to kWh tariff and standing charge and how much you use. 

Are you claiming the warm home discount? 

You can also apply for a grant from the Scottish Power hardship fund. 

Check with your county council as many also have a hardship fund. 

Buy a blanket, as that's what I'm currently using to keep warm on my sofa. Heating has been on one hour today. 

QrizB

AzureBlue said:

I switched from E.on last November because I was on a pre-payment smartmeter and wanted to avoid the price cap rise. ScottishPower offered me a Fixed Rate monthly contract until 2024, with the initial three months' direct debits being £63.00.

The good news is that a 24-month fixed rate from November, while probably more expensive than necessary for the past four months, will probably be a reasonable deal going forward.

What is the name of this tariff, what are the rates, and what is your estimated annual consumption (it will be printed on your bill)?

Looking at the bill they've sent me, none of the metre readings make sense. When I called Customer Services they assured me I would not receive an estimated bill, but would only pay for energy I used. However, they now seem to have estimated annual usage from the last year (when I was with Eon) which they promised they wouldn't.

As others have said, what are the meter readings on your bill and how do they compare to the readings you provided to Scottish Power when you joined them, and your readings today?

EssexHebridean

Also - what has been your actual consumption over the past year, and how does that compare with what SP are estimating? 

AzureBlue

Thank everyone for your advice and comments. I've checked the meter readings and done some calculations.

It seems that the £450.00 was actually my usage for the past three months 😳 However, I feel they should have been clear about my initial direct debit rate, as they insisted this was to be the only financial charge (until March 2022). 

The annual usage figure that Scottish Power have quoted me is much higher than the figure I received from E.on just before I switched (and my smartmeter) so I can challenge the monthly direct debit being so high. Especially, as they promised they wouldn't be basing my direct debit on any annual estimation.

Their annual estimation calculations make no sense to me (mathematics was never my strong point) and they are now saying that technically my new monthly direct debit is £210 instead 🤯 but they will only be charging £183.00

EssexHebridean

AzureBlue said:

Thank everyone for your advice and comments. I've checked the meter readings and done some calculations.

It seems that the £450.00 was actually my usage for the past three months 😳 However, I feel they should have been clear about my initial direct debit rate, as they insisted this was to be the only financial charge (until March 2022). 

The annual usage figure that Scottish Power have quoted me is much higher than the figure I received from E.on just before I switched (and my smartmeter) so I can challenge the monthly direct debit being so high. Especially, as they promised they wouldn't be basing my direct debit on any annual estimation.

Their annual estimation calculations make no sense to me (mathematics was never my strong point) and they are now saying that technically my new monthly direct debit is £210 instead 🤯 but they will only be charging £183.00

OK - but what has been your actual consumption over the past year, and how does that compare with what SP are estimating? 

MWT

AzureBlue said:

... Especially, as they promised they wouldn't be basing my direct debit on any annual estimation.

Their annual estimation calculations make no sense to me (mathematics was never my strong point) and they are now saying that technically my new monthly direct debit is £210 instead 🤯 but they will only be charging £183.00

You have two choices really, you can have your DD be the actual cost of what you use each month, which means it will be a lot higher in winter than summer and will vary each month, or you can have the DD be based on an estimate of your annual use. You can't have it be the same each month and not have it based on some sort of estimate...

Also keep in mind that it is the cost of what you use that is more important that what they agree to set the DD at... agreeing to reduce the DD does not save you money, it just reduces the amount of money you have in your account to pay the bills as they arrive...

If the DD is set too low you will end up still owing them money...

wild666

Even if you have a smart meter you should take regular readings, I have done with mine since 2018, the readings can be monthly, weekly or daily.
What was your monthly DD with the other supplier? That will indicate your usage if you were using less electric and gas in winter than your DD or you are using about the same as the DD. 
I would take a daily and weekly readings then add the SC and unit prices together for that week then multiply by 4.5 that will give an approximate usage for a month. 

What was the opening reading you gave? And the reading now? Subtract the higher readings from the lower readings. For electric it just a matter of multiplying the reading after the subtraction by the price per kWh then adding the number of days SC's, i.e. 20p * 250 for example and the number of days by the SC price then add the two figures together. 
With gas multiply the figure by 11.2 then by the kWh price then multiply the same number of days of the SC gas price then add both sets of figures together.  
As it's winter and you've possibly used more gas and maybe more electric as there were darker nights. 
You say you've being with them 3 months, roughly 90 days, just as an example let's say you've used 420kWh of electric at 20p per kWh and 660 kWh of gas at 4p per kWh and SC's are 51p per day between the two, that would mean you used £155 of electric and gas. The figure are just an example your SC and kWh prices might differ from those I used but simple maths can work out your usage. 
If you want more accurate figures for the gas kWh usage then the calorific value of the gas can vary so 11.2 might be more or slightly less than the kWh figure you get from multiplying the units on a gas meter by 11.2, this just avoids doing the multiplying and division to get a more accurate reading each time. 

If you're on ESA then is your provider one of those that offers the warm home discount? If so you should apply for it as soon as the option becomes available on their site.