Help - what do to?

Pooky23

Currently with Scottish Power on their standard tariff, have been for last 3 years.

Looked last night at possibility of switching to their fixed rate until 2011 but to do that seems massively expensive.

We currently pay £95.50 for gas and elec by monthly DD. We used 17,427 kw/h Gas last year and 6,033 kw/h of Elec. Gas is currently 11.63p kw/h and elec 10.76 kw/h.

I was all ready to hit the button to switch to the fixed rate but then realised that it would be approx 5p more per kw/h for both gas and elec, plus an extra £1.50 per month for each. I can't get hold of SP to find out how much our monthly direct debit would become but I can see it being in excess of £100 pm:eek:

The whole thing is totally confusing and I don't know what to do for the best.

We also have to pay a charge for independent gas transporter (IGT) so the figures shown on some of the comparison websites can be misleading.

Can anyone help?

neil9313

Pooky23 wrote: »

Currently with Scottish Power on their standard tariff, have been for last 3 years.

Looked last night at possibility of switching to their fixed rate until 2011 but to do that seems massively expensive.

We currently pay £95.50 for gas and elec by monthly DD. We used 17,427 kw/h Gas last year and 6,033 kw/h of Elec. Gas is currently 11.63p kw/h and elec 10.76 kw/h.

I was all ready to hit the button to switch to the fixed rate but then realised that it would be approx 5p more per kw/h for both gas and elec, plus an extra £1.50 per month for each. I can't get hold of SP to find out how much our monthly direct debit would become but I can see it being in excess of £100 pm:eek:

The whole thing is totally confusing and I don't know what to do for the best.

We also have to pay a charge for independent gas transporter (IGT) so the figures shown on some of the comparison websites can be misleading.

Can anyone help?

Im with SP your rates seem a bit hign, what plan are you on?

moonrakerz

Suggest you check your existing figures first, the figure you quote for gas is about 5 times what it should be, you then say it will increase by another 5p - how do you arrive at this ? I presume you got your 17427kWh from old bills ?
I am paying 2.574/kWh for my gas, which is a fairly standard price, give or take a bit.

According to you figures your energy bill for the last 12 months was around £2700 !`

DGJsaver

moonrakerz wrote: »

the figure you quote for gas is about 5 times what it should be,

I make my gas consumption about 20000 per year , whish is the average

am i wrong or you ???

george1939

DGJsaver wrote: »

I make my gas consumption about 20000 per year , whish is the average

am i wrong or you ???

Scottish power have a 3% discounted standard rate which will save you 3% of your yearly cost been available since February but they will not inform you of this A simple phone call will do the trick available on or off line

notbritishgas

DGJsaver wrote: »

I make my gas consumption about 20000 per year , whish is the average

am i wrong or you ???

Moonrakerz was talking about the price per kwh, 11.63p. I don't think anyone charges that amount (YET)
Your figure of 20000 is about the average.

Pooky23

moonrakerz wrote: »

Suggest you check your existing figures first, the figure you quote for gas is about 5 times what it should be, you then say it will increase by another 5p - how do you arrive at this ? I presume you got your 17427kWh from old bills ?
I am paying 2.574/kWh for my gas, which is a fairly standard price, give or take a bit.

According to you figures your energy bill for the last 12 months was around £2700 !`

Yes, the amount of gas & elec used is last years total taken from previous bills. Re the price, sorry, realise I was looking at the wrong figure on the bill (v. confusing). We are currently being charged 2.620/kwh for Gas and 9.025/kwh for Electricity. I am now going to have to go back to the drawing board and work it all out again...

Pooky23

Pooky23 wrote: »

Yes, the amount of gas & elec used is last years total taken from previous bills. Re the price, sorry, realise I was looking at the wrong figure on the bill (v. confusing). We are currently being charged 2.620/kwh for Gas and 9.025/kwh for Electricity. I am now going to have to go back to the drawing board and work it all out again...

OK, I have now gone back to my paperwork and compared the prices against those on the Scottish Power website for the fixed price energy plan until 2011.

The price for both gas and elec is the SAME per kw/h that I am currently paying. The difference is the daily service charge which goes UP by 5p per day for both gas and elec. So in laymans terms my DD should increase by £3 per month and for that I get fixed energy prices until 2011. Can anyone who has experience of SP tell me if I am thinking along the right lines now??

Thanks!

moonrakerz

Pooky23 wrote: »

I was looking at the wrong figure on the bill (v. confusing).

"v confusing" sums it up ! A lot of the available info on this subject, even from people who should know better, varies from poor, through confusing to downright wrong. Below is an example I found on a web site on how to read and understand your gas meter.

"Gas consumption is measured in units. These gas units need to be multiplied by approximately 31.3 to convert from the units used according to the meter or bill into kilowatt-hours. Exact conversion figures from gas units to kilowatt hours are as follows:

• Multiply your units used by 2.83 to give you the number of cubic metres of gas used. (If you have a new meter measured in cubic metres you do not need to do this).
• Multiply by the temperature and pressure figure (1.02264).
• Multiply by colorific value (39.25)
• Divide by 3.6 to get the number of kilowatt hours (kWh)"

From the very start this is confusing:

Many of the energy companies quite blatantly refer to the gas meter reading as being in units - at the same time as referring to 1kWh as being one unit (of electricity or gas) - no wonder people get confused !
It then tells you to multiply by 2.83; then not to (if you have a "meter measured in cubic meters" - b****y big meter !), but by this time you have already done it !
The you have the:- "colorific" value. Is that something to do with when the flame changes from yellow to blue ?

Dear, oh dear !

notbritishgas

Pooky23 wrote: »

OK, I have now gone back to my paperwork and compared the prices against those on the Scottish Power website for the fixed price energy plan until 2011.

The price for both gas and elec is the SAME per kw/h that I am currently paying. The difference is the daily service charge which goes UP by 5p per day for both gas and elec. So in laymans terms my DD should increase by £3 per month and for that I get fixed energy prices until 2011. Can anyone who has experience of SP tell me if I am thinking along the right lines now??

Thanks!

Yes you are thinking correctly now. SP did actually advertise their fixed to 2011 was only £1.50 per fuel per month more expensive than their standard tariff.
However there are differing views as to whether the fixed tariff is still available, perhaps you being an existing customer will be OK.

Pooky23

However there are differing views as to whether the fixed tariff is still available, perhaps you being an existing customer will be OK.[/quote]

I signed up to the fixed price deal about an hour ago so I hope all is OK. I did it on line as an existing SP customer so fingers crossed!