Scottish Power - DD Payments

FIZZPIT

Hi,

I'm looking to switch to the Scottish Power fixed 2011 deal.

I currently pay my bills quartley but obviously will need to swutch to monthly direct debit with the Scottish Power Tariff.

I'm looking for a bit of advice with DD payments as I'm a little unsure how they work.

** How is the monthly amount decided - do I decide or SP?

** I notice the SP deal states 'fixed monthly payments' If the DD amount is too low (ie I'm using more than I'm paying for) can I alter it?

** If the DD amount is too high (ie I'm paying for way more than I use) is a refund issued at the end of the year?

** Do I still recieve a bill/statement of monthly/quartley usage?

Any help is geatly appreciated - I can't seem to get my head around fixed monthly payments for something of variable usuage.

Oh and 1 last question..... I'm looking to sign up both myself and my parents on this deal. Will Quidco track two deals or would I be best doing one on Quidco and one on one of the others just to make sure?

- Off to ring Scottish Power now so that I can compare their answers to yours.

Thanks again

bill888

SP shouldn't be any different from any other supplier with regards to monthly direct debits.

Usually SP decide the amount. Don't be surprised if the figure they come up with is far higher than you would like. You can always have it reassessed later as I had to do after providing them with some meter readings a few months after switching to them.

yes, u can email or phone them to request them to reassess your direct debit amount if you think you are paying too much or too little. Please note SP prefer their customers to use warm months to build up a reasonable credit to offset the higher bills from colder months so u don't end up in excessive debt to them.

I don't know if SP do refunds as such. It is far easier for the utility company to reduce your monthly direct debit to help you run down any excessive credit you have built up.

They do issue quarterly paper bills if you rely on their estimates and meter readers.

If you opt for their 'online' service, u can submit your own readings and hence obtain far more frequent paperless bills as often as you wish. A condition of their online service only requires you to submit a reading once every 3 months. For some customers, it is probably far easier to submit a reading once a month.

I can't see why quidco wouldn't track provided u remember to delete cookies in your browser before you start with quidco for each application, but I could be wrong of course.

FIZZPIT

Thanks Bill.

I've just contacted SP and they confirm the following

** The initial DD payments are based on your average usage with your previous company

** New customers DD payments are assessed every quarter in relation to their usage.

** This then reverts to annual assessments after the first year with them.

** You recieve a quarterly statement showing your usage

Thanks for the advice.
I just wanted to make doubly sure before I sign up.

bill888

FIZZPIT wrote: »

** New customers DD payments are assessed every quarter in relation to their usage.

I think that it may be a polite way of saying they will increase your direct debit if they think you may be paying too little. :rotfl:

I never saw them automatically reduce or adjust my direct debits in my first year with them.

FIZZPIT

One thing I forgot to ask though....

** If I'm paying say £60 per month for dual fuel and the 1st gas bill comes in at £150 and the 1st electric one at £100 - (so £180 paid in vs £250 in bills) - how do I go about paying the deficit?

Would the DD go up to compensate - say to £110 ?

** I also forgot to ask if refunds were issued say at the end of the year if a substantial credit was built up

Cardew

FIZZPIT wrote: »

One thing I forgot to ask though....

** If I'm paying say £60 per month for dual fuel and the 1st gas bill comes in at £150 and the 1st electric one at £100 - (so £180 paid in vs £250 in bills) - how do I go about paying the deficit?

Would the DD go up to compensate - say to £110 ?

** I also forgot to ask if refunds were issued say at the end of the year if a substantial credit was built up

If that happens for the next quarter(i.e. summer) then they will have drastically underestimated your monthly payments and they would be revised upwards.

They have a fairly sophisticated computer algorithm that should calculate the payments so that after 12 months the balance on the account should be zero.

However thats the theory! Obviously initially they will have no consumption data so it won't be possible to get it correct for the first year.

The principle of a DD is that you will emerge from the winter period with a debit balance. You pay that off during the spring and summer and enter the next winter with a credit balance.

Capyboppy

Be careful with Scottish Power. Although I have stuck with them for many years purely down to them giving the best deal, they aren't alway straight with customers. I have posted about this before. They do review all the time now every 3 months and try and adjust your payments accordingly. 3 times I have had heart attacks nearly at the increase they have wanted to put them up by, even when I have been well in credit. It has only been my threatening to leave, and also by trying to insist they look at my past payments for the year they have kept my payments to what I think they should be. Whenever there has been a bit of a colder spell I have paid extra amounts to cover this, and this is what I would suggest to anyone. I have just swapped over to the online fixed rate and also changed my payment date to the first of the month so I can do my monthly meter readings online which will tally with each payment. I have found it much better dealing with my utility account online as like I say, you can see your usage, compare with last year, make extra payments whenever you want. I have worked out that on my fixed tariff it will be an extra £3 a month, so straight away I have paid £15 to be going on with.

eira

Agree with previous poster-except that I gave up the arguments in the end-it was becoming a monthly hassle with swings of between £50 and £100 . The DD issue is a thorny one. They opened 2unauthorised DD on my bank account after I'd switched. I complained and they still haven't given me a reason for this even though they claim their 'legal team have looked in to it'.I owe them no money so that isn't an issue but this DD business is sneaky.Put this as a post on the forum and got a very good explaination from a poster which makes sense but SP are being very evasive and either won't or can't give a reason for the unauthorised DD.

keith1950

Hi-when you switch suppliers usually the gas and electric switches do not go through on the same day so Scottishpower usually open 2 new direct debit to seperate the gas and electric and bill each seperately. I have found that once these are opened they do not usually take the last "normal" debit debit. I think this is preferable to some other suppliers who either send you a final bill to pay by cheque etc. or sometimes overcharge and then send you a cheque for the overpayment.

Cardew

eira wrote: »

Agree with previous poster-except that I gave up the arguments in the end-it was becoming a monthly hassle with swings of between £50 and £100 . The DD issue is a thorny one. They opened 2unauthorised DD on my bank account after I'd switched. I complained and they still haven't given me a reason for this even though they claim their 'legal team have looked in to it'.I owe them no money so that isn't an issue but this DD business is sneaky.Put this as a post on the forum and got a very good explaination from a poster which makes sense but SP are being very evasive and either won't or can't give a reason for the unauthorised DD.

There seems to be a common misunderstanding about the Direct Debit scheme; it seems some feel it is similar to a Standing Order - it isn't.

You authorise any company to take funds from your account when you sign the DD authorisation. That sum is not fixed(like a Standing Order) and the company do NOT need any further authorisation from you to raise or lower the amount they take from your account.

However what they MUST do is notify you in advance that are going to change the monthly amount. The problem, particularly with some Utility companies, is that this notification is buried away in the 'small print' at the bottom of a quarterly bill, and is easy to overlook.

If they haven't notified you, then you can claim back the payment from your bank under the DD guarantee. However the company only have to prove they sent the notification to you, not that you received it(or read it)

However they cannot re-open a DD or start a new one as you say happened in your case. Did you close your previous DD?

eira

Thanks Cardew. It was your response to my other posts that made sense.SP have resolutely refused to give chapter and verse as to where they were authorised to open these new DD despite telling me that their 'legal section' says it was ok to do so. There was a live DD in place when the two new ones were opened. I closed the two new ones down and requested a bill.I couldn't enter meter readings or check the bill as they had shut down access to my online account. If I hadn't got on line access to my bank account I would have known nothing about these DDs

As said I owe them no money, I paid the bill when I eventually got it,all I'm asking them for is where in the small print did they get my permission to open additional DD.According to my bank and the Banking Ombudsman these are brand new DD that I should have been contacted about. As far as I'm concerned I authorised one DD.

It's the basic principle of a company doing what seems to be abusing this agreement to open other DD-when would the money have been taken/how much would it have been? Now SP have consulted their lawyers they should be able to inform me of the situation. I'm going to be a lot warier of DD agreements from now on.

Thanks for the help