Want to switch...

Stanshall

Hello,

My mother is currently with Scottish Power paying by monthly direct debit. Her account is always in credit and with the price rises she was told her bills would increase by £62 per month, but they have increased her direct debit by £120 per month. She is getting too ill to read the meter herself and we've been on a waiting list for a smart meter for over three years. I have access to her online account, but the interface seems designed not to let us change her DD to a sensible amount (not without paying £1350). Basically, this feels like a a con.

Now I would like to change her supplier to one that charges her per month for her usage and will proved a smart meter. But because of the crisis no provider seems to be taking on new customers. We feel trapped, especially as she is too ill to go about the endless phone calls to get something done. We are trapped.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

To start with - it’s not a con.

Several suppliers are accepting new customers but you might have to call them to switch.  Some do not offer variable DD as you indicate you wish to use though.

There is a shortage of smart meters available for installation at the moment as well, so don’t expect one immediately, and if SP’s reasoning was that there wasn’t a good enough communications signal at the property, that won’t change with any other supplier.

EssexHebridean

The two suppliers who do seem to be reported as being happy to accept switches onto their SVR are EDF and Octopus currently. My personal experience is that in fact EDF were a nightmare - even from the perspective of someone who was a customer of theirs for gas actually getting the electricity switched to them as well proved to be impossible - even when they claimed to be putting the switch through for me in fact they simply didn't bother.. Octopus have been a completely different experience however - a single phone call and the switch went through inside 48 hours, we've switched both electricity and - after the very negative EDF experience the gas too. Early days but so far we're impressed.