Scottish Power Standard Online Tariff

IslaView

Hi, I'm looking for help to understand my bill/costs better and as a result hope to escape crippling energy costs coming up!

I'm currently on Scottish Powers Standard Online tariff.  Last year I was paying roughly £180 per month for gas and electricity.  At one point I was £900 in debt to them (presumably once prices rose and I finished my fixed price tariff).  After paying £642 monthly for some time, my statement says I am nearly £1300 in credit, which I am happy about as it may help me out when prices go up again soon.  The picture attached is from a bill in January, so I'd assume I'm another £400 in credit now.  Does this sound right?

Through the calculator on this site, it estimates I should be paying £456 a month, but that is likely to rise to £864 a month in October.  This is a massive amount and really scares me, even more so when I read that it could rise again in January.

First question is based on my tariff.  The way I read things, if I am on a default energy tariff, I should only be paying as much as the energy cap.  Is my tariff a default one or not?  It defaulted to that after my last fixed price deal ended, so would like to think so.  If it is, why am I paying so much now?

What is the best recommendation?  Wait for a tariff to come available that fixes the price?  Will there be tariffs that come out that will be inclusive of the cap, or are they all going to be more expensive?  You will see we use nearly quadruple the average amount of gas, and just over double the electricity (Old house that is impossible to heat sometimes!)

Any recommendations/ideas welcome.  I know we are certainly going to try and reduce our usage of a lot of things.

Thank you.

IslaView

Also to add, I've just checked with USwitch, and with my yearly usage taken from my bill entered into their site, they estimate I should be £3426.07 a year, so around £285 a month, and not the £456 I am paying just now (plus another £186 also).  Is there something I am missing?  am I being charged too much?

pochase

1. A cap is based on the exact usage of 12000KWh gas and 2900KWh electricity. If you use more you pay more. The cap is used to calculate the maximum standing charges and unit rates, but is not the maximum you pay for your energy.

2. Your are looking at two different things, your invoice which  ends with a debt of £1.73, and it seems a credit on your online account. Interestingly the credit is twice your monthly direct debit minus your debt from the invoice. What is the information when you click on the "I"?  Also it does not say the 1282.27 is your balance, but the update amount for your balance. What is your balance in the application?

3. What usage figures did you put into USwitch? Did you insert your real usage or did you accept their estimate?

macman

As above. You haven't told us your annual kWh usage on each fuel.
The price cap is a unit price cap, per kWh. Use 4 times as much, you pay 4 times as much. Only the standing charge remains the same.
There are no cheap fixes now or in the forseeable future: SVT under the price cap remains the cheapest. 

IslaView

Apologies Pochase and Macman.  I thought my bill image had the fuel usage on it.  I've attached below now.

That makes more sense then, as unfortunately we do use a lot of gas and electricity.  I obviously hadn't read how the cap worked properly.

I think you are right Pochase, I will have paid 2 monthly fees since this bill, so it should be back at 0 more than likely, based of the text from the i button attached below.

The usage values are taken from our smart meter, so I'd presume they are pretty accurate.

[Deleted User]

As you said, your actual usage in the last twelve months is nearly four times the 'average' for gas and more than double the 'average' for electricity.

On the default tariff, you will be paying nearly four times the cap for gas and more than double the cap for electricity.

That £3426.07 quote you have posted is assuming that the price stays at the April 2022 cap and does not go up for at least twelve months.  Note the asterisk and the text under the image.  If the default tariff follows the predicted path from last week, your usage would result in an annual cost of something like £12500 (or a monthly DD of £1000).

IslaView

OK, so I need to prepare for massive bills then!

Time to start identifying where we can save on gas and electricity, and on other bills so we can minimise the cost!

[Deleted User]

I think trying to make savings is a good idea - you're way above normal usage.

There is always the option of a fixed tariff, which could insure against some of the possible price rises.  Those on offer at the moment seem to be more expensive than October's prices, about the same as January's predicted prices and cheaper than April's predicted prices.

Of course, we don't know what Liz is going to do yet.

IslaView

Last winter was really cold and we had a baby in the house, so had to keep the house relatively warm for her.  She'll be 18 months and in a different (warmer) bedroom this winter, so maybe turn the thermostat down and limit how long we have the heating on for.

As an aside SparkyGrad, I see you are in Insurance Forensics.  You may be able to shed light on an insurance question I have about my roof in the insurance forum here.  Any money claimed back will go a long way to helping with these upcoming bills

[Deleted User]

IslaView said:

As an aside SparkyGrad, I see you are in Insurance Forensics.  You may be able to shed light on an insurance question I have about my roof in the insurance forum here.  Any money claimed back will go a long way to helping with these upcoming bills

I'll have a look.  I don't spend much time in the insurance forum as there's a risk that I might accidentally comment on a case that I am directly involved in!

IslaView

[Deleted User] said:

IslaView said:

As an aside SparkyGrad, I see you are in Insurance Forensics.  You may be able to shed light on an insurance question I have about my roof in the insurance forum here.  Any money claimed back will go a long way to helping with these upcoming bills

I'll have a look.  I don't spend much time in the insurance forum as there's a risk that I might accidentally comment on a case that I am directly involved in!

Ha, you can't be involved yet as I'm just trying to ascertain if I can claim anything!  Much appreciated!