Scottish Power Billing Frequency

2old2tired2scared

Apologies if this has been asked before, (my first post and I'm not getting the hang of it too well). My Dad is with Scottish Power and like most folks he pays by monthly direct debit. Billing seems to be on a very varied basis which makes it super awkward for him to see for himself how close to ideal his monthly payment is. Why do they do this if it's not to confuse the elderly? Does any other supplier do this?
For info, his last 4 bills have been 6.9.23, 26.11.23, 15.2.24 and 26.3.24- I could have understood the last one if it coincided with the change in the target rate but nope! 
Rant over but anyone else finding this?

BarelySentientAI

Many suppliers bill at unusual times, sometimes matching when meter readings were received, sometimes matching tariff changes, sometimes just when their systems update.

It's not some malicious activity to deliberately confuse the elderly.

The rules say it must be at least twice a year.

badmemory

Basically their systems are not fit for purpose.  They are certainly not aiming at the elderly, anyone will do.  Scottish Power is also not the only one.  In just over one year my provider cancelled several bills & reissued & finally cancelled all the 14 month bills with them & reissued as one bill.  Readings & prices were all the same so why??  Some periods were issued 4 times.  So basic uselessness not malicious.

Alnat1

My dad is also with Scottish Power and they seem to bill whenever they get readings. My dad refuses to have smart meters but then often forgets to give monthly readings until a reminder email is received (after 3 months of no readings I think). I have now set myself a reminder to remind my dad to read his meter. 

It might be that you dad is on the priority service and a meter reader calls and a bill is issued in response to that, which is causing the irregular billing cycle.

bob2302

2old2tired2scared said:

Apologies if this has been asked before, (my first post and I'm not getting the hang of it too well). My Dad is with Scottish Power and like most folks he pays by monthly direct debit. Billing seems to be on a very varied basis which makes it super awkward for him to see for himself how close to ideal his monthly payment is.

That's a very poor way of determining that because usage varies a lot throughout the year. The right way to check a fixed DD is to keep track of annual electricity and gas usage and calculate the yearly total cost from the standing charges and rates. There's typically a calculation like this on the bill - if you haven't kept meter readings.

northernstar007

when i was with SP for 2 years up untill nov23 i always put my reading in monthly and the exact bill is made within a few hours
so start putting actual readings in monthly and you will get an exact bill

tip,,, put the readings in soon as the DD has cleared in his SP acc  normally evening of the same day as payment