Scottish Power

staceymacg

We are currently in a fixed tariff until the end of May 2022 with Scottish Power. We are paying £195 a month at the moment. 

Scottish Power have quoted us £440 a month for a fixed tariff after our current ends. This is not possible for us to pay.

My partner has a decent job earning roughly £1500 a month after tax and I am a stay at home mum to our 2 year old son. 

What do we do? Nowhere is letting you compare or have the option to switch on comparison sights. 

I’m really beginning to panic. 

Robin9

Just do nothing and you will roll over onto the variable tariff.  That's a better option but be prepared for big bills. 

Time to batten down the hatches and switch those lights off when you leave the room.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

staceymacg said:

We are currently in a fixed tariff until the end of May 2022 with Scottish Power. We are paying £195 a month at the moment. 

Scottish Power have quoted us £440 a month for a fixed tariff after our current ends. This is not possible for us to pay.

Most fixed tariffs currently on offer are are not good value.

Do you know your typical annual consumption of gas and electricity, in kWh? It should be printed on your latest bill. If you can tell us that we can calculate your likely monthly bill on the current capped variable tariff, and give you a guess of what it could become when the cap is next revised in October.

TheMilkmansDad

It's also worth noting that the £195 you currently pay is not an all you can eat amount. Are you providing regular meter readings and are your bills using these readings? If so, is your account currently in Credit or Debit? If you are in credit then that's good; if not then your £195 a month has not been enough.

Either way, you need to look at the new rates at tariff level rather than DD amount. If you know your annual usage, you should be able to work out how much you bills will be based on the Fixed they are offering against what their SVR rate would be. Baring an exceptional  fixed been offered, I would suspect the SVR would be the route to take. Still be prepared for a large increase in you bills, at a finger in the wind guess I would expect your monthly payments will at least double.

£195 seems a bit steep for 2 adults and a little one, do you know your annual usage? You may need to start thinking in ways to reduce your usage (assuming you've not done so already of course!). 

staceymacg

QrizB said:

Welcome to the forum.

staceymacg said:

We are currently in a fixed tariff until the end of May 2022 with Scottish Power. We are paying £195 a month at the moment. 

Scottish Power have quoted us £440 a month for a fixed tariff after our current ends. This is not possible for us to pay.

Most fixed tariffs currently on offer are are not good value.

Do you know your typical annual consumption of gas and electricity, in kWh? It should be printed on your latest bill. If you can tell us that we can calculate your likely monthly bill on the current capped variable tariff, and give you a guess of what it could become when the cap is next revised in October.

Our annual usage is 10746, with 33% of that being at night time! Grateful for your help.

Mstty

@staceymacg

Also your electricity usage as well.

staceymacg

Mstty said:

@staceymacg

Also your electricity usage as well.

@Mstty

That is our electricity. We are just electricity in the house. 

[Deleted User]

Are you on Economy 7 tariff?
At 33% night time usage that isn't a lot of night time usage. Could you make more use of the low night rates if you are.
I do almost everything now on my low night rate (excluding hoovering).

Mstty

staceymacg said:

Mstty said:

@staceymacg

Also your electricity usage as well.

@Mstty

That is our electricity. We are just electricity in the house. 

Thanks Stacey I must learn to read properly lol

On our fixed rate which matches our local price capped rate for elec and no economy 7 for 7100 kWh at 29.24p/kWh we have a direct debit set at £177.70

So a very rough guide for you, not knowing what standard variable rate your current supplier sets you at for your region.

£240-260 per month on the current capped rate but knowing we all use 65-75% of our total energy from October til April and that coincides with the next expected increase in energy capped rates if you were to budget for £300 a month on current usage you won't be surprised come October. (I have built in the £200 everyone gets off their bill in October in these rough calculations)

Whether you give this to your energy company or put it in a separate savings pot etc is up to you in the next 6 months as this is where you should use the least energy.

Finally, as has been mentioned there must be saving to be made. Washing machine/tumble dryer on in economy rates. Then off electrical items at the plug and don't leave things on burning electricity all day and night when not needed.

staceymacg

Mstty said:

staceymacg said:

Mstty said:

@staceymacg

Also your electricity usage as well.

@Mstty

That is our electricity. We are just electricity in the house. 

Thanks Stacey I must learn to read properly lol

On our fixed rate which matches our local price capped rate for elec and no economy 7 for 7100 kWh at 29.24p/kWh we have a direct debit set at £177.70

So a very rough guide for you, not knowing what standard variable rate your current supplier sets you at for your region.

£240-260 per month on the current capped rate but knowing we all use 65-75% of our total energy from October til April and that coincides with the next expected increase in energy capped rates if you were to budget for £300 a month on current usage you won't be surprised come October. (I have built in the £200 everyone gets off their bill in October in these rough calculations)

Whether you give this to your energy company or put it in a separate savings pot etc is up to you in the next 6 months as this is where you should use the least energy.

Finally, as has been mentioned there must be saving to be made. Washing machine/tumble dryer on in economy rates. Then off electrical items at the plug and don't leave things on burning electricity all day and night when not needed.

Thankyou!

Even £300 isn’t going to be affordable which is what’s stressing me out. What can we do if we literally can’t pay more than £200? 

staceymacg

[Deleted User] said:

Are you on Economy 7 tariff?
At 33% night time usage that isn't a lot of night time usage. Could you make more use of the low night rates if you are.
I do almost everything now on my low night rate (excluding hoovering).

I think so! We try to but with a sleeping child it’s hard as washing machine would wake him! We heat our water once during this time and that’s it for the day but it often is running cold by dinner time but can’t really afford to heat the tank again!