Scottish Power, don't get caught out !!

MarkyMarkD

Jacksons Mum

Both you and the OP are missing the point.

Just because your monthly DD amount changes doesn't mean that your electricity is actually costing you more. What matters is the unit price.

Changing supplier is not necessarily the right thing to do when your supplier asks you for an increased DD payment. If the increase is because you have arrears, you'll have to settle them to effect the transfer in any case. If it is because they are over-estimating your future consumption, then you just need to challenge them.

It appears from both of your posts that SP are "trying it on" with increased DD amounts in order to improve their cashflow. So go back to them and say you won't pay the increased amount. No need to change supplier.

Cardew

jacksons_mum wrote: »

they did the same to me - ive been paying £52 pm for 2 years, always in credit just received letter saying it will increase to £94 pm :eek: so ive switched to eon who estimate £42 per month. based on my useage over the past 2 years.

Surely you don't think that your bills are going to reduce from £94 pm to £42 pm by switching to E-ON?

malamute

The £94 per month we all agree is an over estimate on your DD based on an over estimate on your pre-increase tariff., this should have been challenged long ago before the latest price increase came into effect.

I repeat the only way to check any perceived benefit is to obtain the tariff you are going on to with E-ON against the increased tariff of your current supplier.

Jacksons mum, who says you will be paying £42 is it E-ON, comparison site or have you worked it out your self, its only the last option that is the true figure .
This gives you actual based on true previous usage and not an estimate!!!!!!!!!

jacksons_mum

no, i think they are going to change from £52 to £42. i dont know where scottish power have got the £94 from as am definately not in arrears and never have been.

jacksons_mum

i admit i didnt check the unit prices as when i tried on the scottish power website there were hundreds of different prices and it really confused me. i think i was so pi**ed off with SP nearly doubling my monthly dd for no reason (just had a meter reading and was in credit and thats over the winter months)

MarkyMarkD

So, you've wasted a lot of effort switching to another supplier who is just as likely to be more expensive as less expensive!

That's not exactly money-saving.

You can tell from your Scottish Power bills which tariff you are on, and then work out your annual cost of fuel based on the correct tariff and your actual consumption. And then use the actual consumption and feed it into a comparison site to see whether switching is actually worthwhile.

jacksons_mum

it was no effort at all - took about 5 mins and i got £70 cashback so im happy

Butterfliesarepretty

jacksons_mum wrote: »

they did the same to me - ive been paying £52 pm for 2 years, always in credit just received letter saying it will increase to £94 pm :eek: so ive switched to eon who estimate £42 per month. based on my useage over the past 2 years.

Here is my usage now I am very happy with scottish power.
















Just because they increase your direct debit does not mean that they are charging you more. they are basing it on the last reading, normally for houselholds including mine between October and March is the most we use gas and electric. Now the days are getting warmer you will use less. My gas comes on at 6am goes off at 8am (while at work) then comes on at 5pm and goes off at 10.30pm. weekends I change it depending whether I am in or out. I was in credit by over £160 last year and I was paying £46 for both gas and electric until Dec when they reduced it to £29 a month.

the £17.44 bill was the adjustment to cover the price increase from the 2nd Feb to 16 Feb.:T

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Current balance[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]£61.92 in credit[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]at 06/03/08[/FONT]

DateBills/ChargesPaymentsBalance05/03/08 [URL="javascript: form_CellSelectSubmit('0','1','formID=15,objectID=11,eventType=7');"][/URL]£29.50 £61.92 in Credit 17/02/08 [URL="javascript: form_CellSelectSubmit('1','1','formID=15,objectID=11,eventType=7');"]£17.44[/URL] £32.42 in Credit 18/02/08 [URL="javascript: form_CellSelectSubmit('2','1','formID=15,objectID=11,eventType=7');"]£168.17[/URL] £49.86 in Credit 05/02/08 [URL="javascript: form_CellSelectSubmit('3','1','formID=15,objectID=11,eventType=7');"][/URL]£29.50 £218.03 in Credit 07/01/08 [URL="javascript: form_CellSelectSubmit('4','1','formID=15,objectID=11,eventType=7');"][/URL]£29.50 £188.53 in Credit 05/12/07 [URL="javascript: form_CellSelectSubmit('5','1','formID=15,objectID=11,eventType=7');"][/URL]£46.00 £159.03 in Credit 20/11/07 [URL="javascript: form_CellSelectSubmit('6','1','formID=15,objectID=11,eventType=7');"]£97.87[/URL] £113.03 in Credit var shiftStartf15_historyListbox = 0; var tf15_historyListbox = document.getElementById("tf15_historyListbox"); var selectedRowsf15_historyListbox = new Array(tf15_historyListbox.rows.length); var backColoursf15_historyListbox = new Array(); var foreColoursf15_historyListbox = new Array(); backColoursf15_historyListbox[0] = ""; foreColoursf15_historyListbox[0] = ""; backColoursf15_historyListbox[1] = ""; foreColoursf15_historyListbox[1] = ""; backColoursf15_historyListbox[2] = ""; foreColoursf15_historyListbox[2] = ""; backColoursf15_historyListbox[3] = ""; foreColoursf15_historyListbox[3] = ""; backColoursf15_historyListbox[4] = ""; foreColoursf15_historyListbox[4] = ""; backColoursf15_historyListbox[5] = ""; foreColoursf15_historyListbox[5] = ""; backColoursf15_historyListbox[6] = ""; foreColoursf15_historyListbox[6] = ""; var colBackColoursf15_historyListbox = new Array(); colBackColoursf15_historyListbox[0] ="null"; colBackColoursf15_historyListbox[1] ="null"; colBackColoursf15_historyListbox[2] ="null"; colBackColoursf15_historyListbox[3] ="null"; colBackColoursf15_historyListbox[4] ="null"; function ff15_historyListboxOnClick(rowNumberf15_historyListbox, event) !! cursorPointer = "pointer"; if (!event) !! event = window.event; cursorPointer = "hand"; } if (event.ctrlKey) !! shiftStartf15_historyListbox = rowNumberf15_historyListbox; if (selectedRowsf15_historyListbox[rowNumberf15_historyListbox] > 0) !! selectedRowsf15_historyListbox[rowNumberf15_historyListbox] = 0; } else !! selectedRowsf15_historyListbox[rowNumberf15_historyListbox] = 2; } } else if (event.shiftKey) !! if (shiftStartf15_historyListbox == 0) !! shiftStartf15_historyListbox = rowNumberf15_historyListbox; } startf15_historyListbox = 0; stopf15_historyListbox = 0; if (shiftStartf15_historyListbox > rowNumberf15_historyListbox) !! startf15_historyListbox = rowNumberf15_historyListbox; stopf15_historyListbox = shiftStartf15_historyListbox; } else !! startf15_historyListbox = shiftStartf15_historyListbox; stopf15_historyListbox = rowNumberf15_historyListbox; } for (var i = 0; i < selectedRowsf15_historyListbox.length; i++) !! if (i >= startf15_historyListbox && i 0) !! tf15_historyListbox.rows.style.cursor="auto"; for (var j = 0; j < tf15_historyListbox.rows.cells.length; j++) !! tf15_historyListbox.rows.cells[j].style.backgroundColor="#5A00AD"; tf15_historyListbox.rows.cells[j].style.color="#FFFFFF"; } tf15_historyListbox.rows.style.backgroundColor="#5A00AD"; tf15_historyListbox.rows.style.color="#FFFFFF"; } else !! tf15_historyListbox.rows.style.cursor = cursorPointer; for (var j = 0; j < tf15_historyListbox.rows.cells.length; j++) !! if (colBackColoursf15_historyListbox[j] == "" || colBackColoursf15_historyListbox[j] == null) !! tf15_historyListbox.rows.cells[j].style.backgroundColor=backColoursf15_historyListbox[i-1]; } else !! tf15_historyListbox.rows.cells[j].style.backgroundColor=colBackColoursf15_historyListbox[j]; } tf15_historyListbox.rows.cells[j].style.color=foreColoursf15_historyListbox[i-1]; } tf15_historyListbox.rows.style.backgroundColor=backColoursf15_historyListbox[i-1]; tf15_historyListbox.rows.style.color=foreColoursf15_historyListbox[i-1]; } } }

Butterfliesarepretty

jacksons_mum wrote: »

they did the same to me - ive been paying £52 pm for 2 years, always in credit just received letter saying it will increase to £94 pm :eek: so ive switched to eon who estimate £42 per month. based on my useage over the past 2 years.

Here is my usage now I am very happy with scottish power.

Just because they increase your direct debit does not mean that they are charging you more. they are basing it on the last reading, normally for houselholds including mine between October and March is the most we use gas and electric. Now the days are getting warmer you will use less. My gas comes on at 6am goes off at 8am (while at work) then comes on at 5pm and goes off at 10.30pm. weekends I change it depending whether I am in or out. I was in credit by over £160 last year and I was paying £46 for both gas and electric until Dec when they reduced it to £29 a month.

the £17.44 bill was the adjustment to cover the price increase from the 2nd Feb to 16 Feb.:T

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Current balance[/FONT]

£61.92 in credit.:rotfl:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]at 06/03/08[/FONT]

DateBills Charges Payments Balance
05/03/08 £29.50 £61.92 in Credit
17/02/08 £17.44 £32.42 in Credit
18/02/08 £168.17 £49.86
05/02/08 £29.50 £218.03 in Credit
07/01/08 £29.50 £188.53 in Credit
05/12/07 £46.00 £159.03 in Credit
20/11/07 £97.87 £113.03 in Credit

Items in blue are the bills.

GunJack

Something to bear in mind also about SP - they adjust your dd EVERY QUARTER to take into account your current useage. This is why I'm moving away from them. The OP may find that the dd level they were given is to :

a. pay for the estimated consumption for the next qtr, and
b. clear the current arrears on the account.

Bear in mind their prices went up as of the beginning of Feb (15% each for gas & leccy) it is not suprising the dd is going up.

I've found that if I move to e-on I'll save about £100 a year (based on all the NEW prices), I'll get £55 from quidco for switching, and more importantly, they do the 'normal' thing of averaging your dd over the full year, none of this every quarter rubbish that SP are working on. What's the point of dd to spread the cost if they up it stupidly in the winter and you pay next to nothing in the summer