Scottish Power 1 Year Flexi Price Tariff

thatkears

Hi all,

I'm with Scottish Power for our energy and our current fixed price tariff comes to an end on June 30th. We're currently paying £112, once the tariff ends we'll go onto the SVT and pay the capped rate, so that would be about £165 based on the "normal" usage cost. 

Scottish Power have offered us the 1 Year Flexi Price Tariff at £196 a month, which is about 25% more than the capped rate currently, but would long term be a bit cheaper, assuming the cap goes up again in October (probably looking at about £245 per month then).

Martin's advice in the past has been to at least consider these fixed prices as it's possible to save a bit long term, as I've mentioned above.

My issue here is that the tariff isn't fixed, it's badged as flexi, the description from the SP website is below:

"The price of energy we supply you is fixed, protecting you from rising wholesale energy costs. The tariff also includes variable costs which are linked to external industry costs that can go up or down each quarter during the term of your tariff."

Is anyone on this sort of tariff who can advise on how this all works?

I'm suspicious that I'll end up paying a lot more than the advertised rate because of these variable charges, and if I commit it'd then be £150 per fuel to exit.

Hope this is clear enough,

Andy.

thebullsback

Personally I would avoid SP like the Plague after having to threaten them with legal action to have money they owed me back.
There used to be a very large section amongst these Forums from many other disgruntled costumers. 

thatkears

thebullsback said:

Personally I would avoid SP like the Plague after having to threaten them with legal action to have money they owed me back.
There used to be a very large section amongst these Forums from many other disgruntled costumers. 

Yeah I agree, the only reason I'm with them is because my old provider went bust, SP took over then offered me the current fix which was reasonable enough at the time.

thebullsback

I was in exactly the same position a few years ago and had a Plus Balance moved over .I think contractually I had to stay with them for a couple of month before I could leave and that was when the trouble started .
My advice research the Scottish Small claims Court System because that's the only Customer Service language they understand. 
Good Luck

bristolleedsfan

thatkears said:

Hi all,

I'm with Scottish Power for our energy and our current fixed price tariff comes to an end on June 30th. We're currently paying £112, once the tariff ends we'll go onto the SVT and pay the capped rate, so that would be about £165 based on the "normal" usage cost. 

Scottish Power have offered us the 1 Year Flexi Price Tariff at £196 a month, which is about 25% more than the capped rate currently, but would long term be a bit cheaper, assuming the cap goes up again in October (probably looking at about £245 per month then).



Is anyone on this sort of tariff who can advise on how this all works?

I'm suspicious that I'll end up paying a lot more than the advertised rate because of these variable charges, and if I commit it'd then be £150 per fuel to exit.

Hope this is clear enough,

Andy.

Scottish Power  1 year flexi price tariff they offering if compare unit rates is likely to be a lot higher than 25% more than the capped rate currently.

If you post SC and unit rates of both tariffs someone will be able to say how much higher 1 year flexi price tariff is.

Alnat1

I got passed to SP when Orbit went under at the end of October 21. Took ages for them to get my account opened, 4 months before DD was set up, a huge DD amount as it included the back payments over winter. I was itching to get away fast so made a big payment myself and rang Octopus to get the accounts moved again.

The Octopus accounts were opened fine in April but I have only recently sorted out the final bill from SP. Never again!

pochase

You seem to be using figures from quotes based on different usage estimates.

If the £112 on your current fix reflect your correct usage, there is almost no chance at all that the new SVT will be only £165. Using the famous 54% increase from old SVT to new SVT it would £172 from a £112 on SVT, and your fixed rate should be much cheaper.

The 25% increase from current SVT to the fixed offer is even more unrealistic, the unit rates are higher than the current high side of an October increase.

 Electricity

Tariff

Green Flexi August 2023 M1

Payment method

Monthly direct debit

Standing charge

37.92p

Primary unit rate

45.64p

Exit fee

£150.00

Tariff end date

31/08/2023

 Gas

Tariff

Green Flexi August 2023 M1

Payment method

Monthly direct debit

Standing charge

27.22p

Primary unit rate

13.62p

Exit fee

£150.00

Tariff end date

31/08/2023

That is almost double the gas price and 60% increase for electricity from current SVT.

What is your current usage for gas and electricity, are you in debt or credit and by how much, what is your region and what are the unit prices for your fix? Also can you confirm the above rates for the new fix?

It seems to me that they are playing with different estimates for usage here.

thatkears

Ok, have just done a meter read and we're now £192 in credit, I imagine that will drop a bit on 1st July as there's still 10 days left in June. Current usage is 4,266 kWh for Gas and 3,565 kWh for Electricity. We're in the North West and yes, the above rates are what we're being offered.

pochase

For the above rates with your usage the annual cost on the fixed tariff would be £2445 or £204 per month.

The current predictions for October SVT are 11 to 11.8p for gas, and 40p to 42p for electricity. The fixed tariff is higher than this. 

The new cost on SVT for the higher prediction would be £2238 or £187 per month. Add to this the higher cost between current SVT and fix and the exit fee.

I would not touch the fixed rate they are offering.

thatkears

pochase said:

For the above rates with your usage the annual cost on the fixed tariff would be £2445 or £204 per month.

The current predictions for October SVT are 11 to 11.8p for gas, and 40p to 42p for electricity. The fixed tariff is higher than this. 

The new cost on SVT for the higher prediction would be £2238 or £187 per month. Add to this the higher cost between current SVT and fix and the exit fee.

I would not touch the fixed rate they are offering.

Thank you for this, as you can probably tell I'm pretty clueless on this so the assistance is much appreciated. Wonder if I can just switch to another provider on an SVT, purely to avoid having to pay any more coin to SP?

Alnat1

Not many will take on new customers at SVT. EDF and Octopus might do but you have to ring and ask, can't do it online.