Scottish Power £7k bill!

teamt84

Gerry1 said:

teamt84 said:

Scottish power are refusing to let her speak to customer services until she settles the outstanding bill or sets up a payment plan for whatever she can afford. Apparently, according to one call handler, her mobile number is now linked to her account and regardless of which option she selects will always end up at collection.

That seems out of order.  Tell her to withhold her number by using the prefix #31# when she calls them.

teamt84 said:

She has submitted 2 meter reads and also a Scottish Power meter reader has been out. With an increase of 600 (units/kwh) since move in day. Ironically she's supposed to be having a smart meter fitted next week!

Might be better to postpone the smart meter installation for the time being, a change at this stage will only complicate things, e.g. any question of meter accuracy will be much harder to resolve if the original meter has gone to landfill.  Similarly, it won't be possible to check whether the Day and Night readings were transposed.

That’s great thanks, I did wonder if you could withhold your number.

Yes, a good idea to stall the meter installation until this whole mess is sorted out.

ariarnia

if she hasn't set up an account yet then the rates will be the 'deemed' contract (so the 'standard e7' variable under the cap). 

you would need to check the rates for your region you can check for a rough idea at least here: 

https://www2.scottishpower.co.uk/tariff-information.process?execution=e2s1

but for 600kwh i'd be surprised if it was much more than £300ish 

teamt84

Got her unit rates:

17.11p & 87.04p

and standing charge of 54.84p

diystarter7

teamt84 said:

diystarter7 said:

You ring them and have mum besides you to consent or on the phone 

This is what I plan to do tomorrow when I can get to see her

Hi

Good luck - keep it concise and factual, so its easy for the call handler to understand
Tell them concisely what needs to heppen
Take name and details those you speak with and if you/mum wants register you as a authrosied
advocate

Good luck and iff poss, pls update

Thnaks

Keep_pedalling

teamt84 said:

Got her unit rates:

17.11p & 87.04p

and standing charge of 54.84p

That sounds horrendous, but she is on an old tariff that is only available in the North Wales area.

That peak rate may not be as bad as it seems as she gets 14 hours a day on the off peak rate which should cover the bulk of her electricity consumption so it could be cheaper than E7, possibly another reason for delaying a change of meter.

https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/energy-efficiency/energy-efficiency-toolkit/electric-heating

Spoonie_Turtle

teamt84 said:

Got her unit rates:

17.11p & 87.04p

and standing charge of 54.84p

Are those before the EPG discount?  Would think most likely the day rate would get the c.30p discount.

Keep_pedalling

Spoonie_Turtle said:

teamt84 said:

Got her unit rates:

17.11p & 87.04p

and standing charge of 54.84p

Are those before the EPG discount?  Would think most likely the day rate would get the c.30p discount.

Don’t the energy companies use the average use on dual tariffs? With 14 hous off peak (including 3 hours in the afternoon) the average cost is not likely to exceed the cap where only a small percentage will actually be charges at that very high rate. The tariff looks quite good bearing in mind  you could quite easily shift over 90% to the cheap rate. 

dunstonh

Don’t the energy companies use the average use on dual tariffs? 

The median effectively matches the EPG.   However, suppliers can vary the rates either side of that.by lowering the off peak rate and increasing the peak rate (a bit like a see saw).    The figures given here appear to be before the EPG, which some suppliers do quote on their paperwork..   (for example, mine is 7p off peak and 54p peak. 

For N Wales, the figures mentioned  for that ratio doesn't match post EPG expectation.

BooJewels

Even if all of her usage ended up being charged at that very high day rate and those prices excluded VAT and the EPG discount, the bill since 17th December would only be around £580 - so that's a worst case scenario of her bill since moving in.  But the meter readings clearly show usage is split over the 2 tariffs and published prices probably already include VAT, so it will certainly be less than that. 

You also need to ensure that she's using her heating properly to take advantage of the cheaper night rate and not firing heaters up during the day at that very expensive rate - and that the meters are properly recording/being charged for day and night use, as Gerry said earlier.

Keep_pedalling

BooJewels said:

Even if all of her usage ended up being charged at that very high day rate and those prices excluded VAT and the EPG discount, the bill since 17th December would only be around £580 - so that's a worst case scenario of her bill since moving in.  But the meter readings clearly show usage is split over the 2 tariffs and published prices probably already include VAT, so it will certainly be less than that. 

You also need to ensure that she's using her heating properly to take advantage of the cheaper night rate and not firing heaters up during the day at that very expensive rate - and that the meters are properly recording/being charged for day and night use, as Gerry said earlier.

I don’t disagree with that, the current tariff is a separate issue, but it needs to be taken into account when the inclination is to switch once this big bill issue is finally resolved (only SP offer this 14 hour cheap rate) and whether the option will be lost if smart meters are fitted.

Might be worth the OP checking that the switching is happening at the correct times.