Scottish Power reduced my DD

vernall

I was on a fix with SP which ended 31/12/21. Was paying £75pm and at the end of it was nearly £300 in credit. Went onto the standard tariffs as Martin suggested and was still paying £75pm until last month, guessing I was in credit so they never upped it. Then last month they upped it to £112, which was to be expected, higher costs etc, but still nearly £200 in credit. Had an email from SP this morning to say that they issued a bill yesterday and after reviewing it they have reduced my DD to £101 from this month as was paying too much. I am £164 in credit. I know I can up it and pay more if I want, I was just surprised mine has dropped from last month when I read on here some peoples have trebled and more

pochase

Have you checked the unit rates on your bill?

From December 2021 to yesterday there should be three different rates, Fix, SVT CAP October 2021 and SVT CAP April 2022.

There was somebody a few days ago where the supplier forgot to put him onto SVT after the fix ended. 

[Deleted User]

Hi,

if you're content paying what you're paying now then continue, build up a reserve.

Though do your own wee spreadsheet, update at least monthly, and give regular readings to your supplier.

That way you can keep an eye on usage and cost.

vernall

pochase said:

Have you checked the unit rates on your bill?

From December 2021 to yesterday there should be three different rates, Fix, SVT CAP October 2021 and SVT CAP April 2022.

There was somebody a few days ago where the supplier forgot to put him onto SVT after the fix ended. 

Have checked a bill from Dec 21 Feb 22 and May 22 and they are 3 different unit rates for both gas and electric. 

pochase

And you are giving regular meter readings / have smart meter? Do the invoices show estimated or real readings?

Coming of a fixed rate you should have had an increase of 100% for electricity and over 300% for gas between December and today.

vernall

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

if you're content paying what you're paying now then continue, build up a reserve.

Though do your own wee spreadsheet, update at least monthly, and give regular readings to your supplier.

That way you can keep an eye on usage and cost.

I do have a smart meter so rely on that giving them the correct reading, don’t know if that’s the right or wrong thing to do lol. 

I do keep a rough eye on the smart meter and it very very rarely at the moment goes over £2.50 per day. Bare in mind there’s no heating on at moment, but I don’t run round turning lights off and everything is left on standby. Washing machine is on most days and so is the dishwasher. Im in a 3 bedroom house with 2 people in it. So at roughly £2.50 a day with an average of 30 days in a month that’s £75 per month, which is about right, I would still say I am overpaying but doesn’t hurt to build up a buffer, especially with October looming lol

pochase

Are you sure that your smart meter shows the new rates? Many suppliers seem to be unable to push out the new rates, so you might be looking at £2.5 per day and it is £5.

Also you need to check if the meter reading show an e for estimate or an s for smart meter or r for manual read.

Alnat1

That's not the smart meter you're checking, it's the IHD (in home display). Many haven't been updated with the new rates by the energy company, so be aware of that and check it has correct standing charge and unit rates for both fuels.

Check the actually gas and electric meters and make sure the numbers on your bill match up and haven't been estimated, those pesky smart meters sometimes turn dumb and SP might not update you to this fact. Does your bill definitely say the unit readings are smart?

vernall

They do say they are smart 

Mstty

I agree with @pochase you must check the rates are correct on your smart meter I had to get Eon Next to update mine and still it doesn't add the standing charge.

Just incase it isn't showing you the full story.

pochase

You have never mentioned what you use for heating. Gas, Electricity or some thing else?

Also with the credit of £300, were you always in credit and got sometimes money back?

AT the moment I think you might have been overpaying all the time before the new rates kicked in.

Edit
I am just looking at an earlier post from you

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6348202/scottish-power-smart-meter-usage

In this post you are talking about higher daily cost than here. In the post you are calling £2.1 low when you were out the whole day, and mention combined cost of £4.96 for a day.