Monthly direct debit doubled (a warning)

Halloway

Hello all,

we pay £49.50 on a monthly DD to Scottish Power for gas and electricity. We have just received our bill and due to winter just having passed we now have a debt of £117.51. Further down the bill (after we have been told that 'No further action is required') we are informed that our DD is being increased to £98.50 from next month, a rise of nearly 100%.

I am not saying that the increase in not justified or warranted (though I will be checking) but with the recent price rises I'd suggest that you check you bills when they arrive so you don't get a nasty surprise when you check your bank statements next month.

margaretclare

Yes, we were already advised of this by letter.

Apparently the price of gas bought wholesale on the world market has risen by 60% in the last year.

Our gas bills tumbled last year after we had a new boiler installed in January 2007 - the old boiler was using far too much gas because the heating control was jammed. We were paying £50 originally, then it went to £25 and we got a rebate, now it's up to £69 because there's a deficit.

Our total household bills were £240 a month last year. Now they're £308.62 - just got the water bill and that has gone up too. And the council tax....

Halloway

Checking further, it seems our tariff (Online Energy Saver) has risen by 50% for both gas and electricity. I am not sure how/why I missed that but that seems to be the main cause of the hike.

Thermal vests all round, I think.

looby-loo_2

Mine is ScottishPower too. It went up from £58 to £68 in March and now they want to up it to £108

The bill shows we are in debt by just £42 after the winter. Divide by 12, about £4 per month would cover that, to £72. So are prices going to rise by another £36 a month to get to £108??

Does anyone know if I can refuse to put the direct debt up so much?

johnbfan

WHen we first joined them our DD was set at £50 then after a couple of months they put it up to £94.00 I queried it and it was reduced to £74.00

Having started doing the online account I did a meter reading and sent it to them and discovered they owe me £199 so I am thinking of reducing my DD.

Seems we all have different problems with these companies. Is it possible to do the 'card tart' thing with gas companies if they are doing special offers.

ScottishPower is offering me a fixed price if I pay £1.50 for gas and £1.50 for electricl a month - not a lot but it soon mounts up.

frugallass

I've just had my latest bill from Scottish Power, the last one was just over £300 for gas and electric and this latest one was £426 for gas an electric - I'm not disputing that we used this amount, after the last bill I turned the thermostat down and changed the central heating timer and have always made sure that electrical items are switched off at the plug, I'm just shocked at the price increase :eek: and am praying for a warm (and cheap) summer so I can pay this bill off and look for a cheaper supplier.

amtrakuk

Some interesting reading... About 8 months ago I got shot of gas due to the inflated prices and the narrowing gap between gas and electric, see below, my provider eon is set to increase 15% for gas and 9.7% for electric. 8 months ago my gas bill was 50.00/month. Assuming I used the same gas as I did then my gas bill these days will be over 70.00/month every month. I thought I goto be able to heat the house, hot water and cook for less than that with electric and Im guess Im lucky I can. I recon the days of gas are limited as there is another energy hike this summer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7306173.stm

amtrakuk

Shock warning, if your not already aware, there is a price rise on energy set for this year of 40%. How the hell can they justify this?! The 426 frugallass was paying will soon shoot upto 596. Assuming thats a quarterly bill thats 198/month!

I think a letter to my MP is well overdue asking what he is going to do about the gross profits these providers are making oddly enough every time there is a price rise!

Mikeyorks

amtrakuk wrote: »

Shock warning, if your not already aware, there is a price rise on energy set for this year of 40%.

Covered several times in the Weekly Email ..... and in the 'Gas and Electricity' article on the main site. As :-

Predicted price rises of 15%-45%. Urgently consider a capped tariff
Industry predictions are of two more rounds of price rises in 2008, one in late Summer/Autumn the other in December (or early Jan) after that prices are predicted to be 15% - 45% higher than now, adding £200-£300 on a typical bill. This has been caused by record prices of wholesale gas and oil, though utility companies are still making record profits.

liverpoollad75

I am having loads of problems with Scottishpower and have emailed all the directors! their emails [EMAIL="Alan.Bryce@scottishpower.com"]Alan.Bryce@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="IGNACIO.GALAN@scottishpower.com"]IGNACIO.GALAN@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="Jose.LuisdelValle@scottishpower.com"]Jose.LuisdelValle@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="Nick.Horler@scottishpower.com"]Nick.Horler@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="Willie.MacDiarmid@scottishpower.com"]Willie.MacDiarmid@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="neil.clitheroe@scottishpower.com"]neil.clitheroe@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="Phil.Henderson@scottishpower.com"]Phil.Henderson@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="john.campbell@scottishpower.com"]john.campbell@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="Rupert.Steele@scottishpower.com"]Rupert.Steele@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="Adrian.Coats@scottishpower.com"]Adrian.Coats@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="Marion.Venma@scottishpower.com"]Marion.Venma@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; Ram!n.Fern!ndez@scottishpower.com; [EMAIL="Matthew.Harwood@scottishpower.com"]Matthew.Harwood@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]; [EMAIL="Simon.McMillan@scottishpower.com"]Simon.McMillan@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL];
I would advise to get a read receipt! Also the person who my email got passed to was as much use as a choclate teapot was [EMAIL="Michael.Gallagher@scottishpower.com"]Michael.Gallagher@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] My usage was exceptionally high until I found the meter cupboard in our flats,took the reading every night. When I started taking the readings they averaged out at 11 of a day and 13 of a night but then a new meter was installed and now my use is 8 of a day 2 of a night. They are still saying my bill of over 450 quid is right and insist that I am being treated faily and this query has been going on since 28/11/08. btw I copy in my Member of parliment, my regoional news for ITV and BBC and the [EMAIL="editor@mirror.co.uk"]editor@mirror.co.uk[/EMAIL] every day with my meter readings. It took me from 28th November to 12th February to get an acknowledgement from Neil Clitheroe I just kept pestering until he sent me the letter. I would advise anyone else to do the same

elaina79

When I first moved into my present house my monthly bills were alot higher that those on a DD reduced tariff. I will not use DD as I cannot stand it, I wait for the invoice and pay it then.
But now from what I have read over the past few weeks my monthly expense for Gas and Electricity is much less than the DD tariffs. Surely they can no longer claim that it is the money saving option when people like me are paying less.