Scottish Power Bill - I'm confused!

[coralush]

Sorry to post here - I know it's not juicy but I'm confused.

I trying to overpay my Scottish Power direct debit payments so I can close it down at the end of September and move to Bulb.

On my account page it says I am £312 in debit.

But in my annual review section it says that in Sept I'll be in credit. See attached.

What does this mean? Can someone explain?

Sometimes your exit fees will be paid by another supplier, I believe Bulb often pay those fees, so you might do just as well to switch now. Did you check Bulb are cheapest of the companies you want to use on money/ uswitch or another comparison site? Bulb have actually reduced my bills since I started, which was nice, my old supplier had been massively overcharging to build a huge surplus. If you just apply to switch now, you'll get everything recalculated and it sounds like you should be in credit. You can also get joining bonuses, I'll message you mine for Bulb as it would give both of us £50 (or check with your family / friends if they have one to use instead).

I switched away from Scottish Power in April. I still haven't paid the final bill because they are still utterly incapable of producing an accurate bill. I took photos of the meters on switch dates and they still think I used 100s more units than I did.

Utterly incompetent. My new supplier has now raised a dispute with them, and if nothing resolves I will then be raising a complaint then going to the ombudsman.

What is your fixed direct debit amount when you don't pay extra op? We are with Eon have been for the last 10ish years never had a problem with them I pay £74 a month duel fuel. We have a 4 bed, 2 bathroom town house so 3 floors to heat. Thermostat set at 24 between 5am-10pm then 19 over night as a guide for you to compare usage plus Oct/Nov time round to March time I use the drier daily has We are a family of 5. Hope that is helpful in some way

Oh we are £160 in credit which will equal out over the winter months

Thanks for the link Excited - I'm half tempted to just go for it. I was trying to wait until my account was in credit so I didn't owe SP anything, but I'm tempted just to switch, I did shop around and they came back one the cheapest, were will to pay any exit fees - and the reviews were excellent.

backtobeing - wow that's so cheap! well I was underpaying for quite a few months and had not submitted a meter reading for months, when I did in May I was £617 in debit - so I've managed to get it down quite a bit in a few months. They recalculated my DD payments at my last reading but only reduced it to £140.

I literally switch my heating and electric on and off at the wall. Does that override the thermostat? Sorry if that sound stupid and it's obvious.

I really need to look at something then, I live in a three bedroomed detached house, new build so not as big as it sounds, it's across two floors and there is only me and my DD living there (since April) - plus I work full time so I'm not there a lot. Seems like I'm paying a fortune 🙁.

Thanks again everyone, it's so good to be able to get some advice.

Just to say. I am on dual fuel with SP.

honeysuckle you do right to report them, I wonder how they are business.

Yes switching off at the wall overrides the thermostat I leave or heating on 24 hours a day, we are a detached new build as well house is 2 years old now. I do submit meter reading once a quarter tho as they send a text reminder. Just a thought as there is only 2 of you not in all day your usage is very high, I am home all day with an under 5 for comparison, do you have an emersion heater? Most new builds in our area anyway do have one as a back up for hot water if the boiler goes if that is switched on it uses a lot of electric. It will be a separate switch to the boiler but located in the same area may say water heater/water tank on the switch plate. We have a boosh combi but still have the emersion backup which I switch off.

backtobeingme - I'm not sure you know. 🙈. We have a boiler in the kitchen cupboard. Then a big tank in a cupboard in the bathroom. I'll ask my ex. He knows all about that as he's a plumber. I probably should know! It's a rental property.

Thinking about it now, there is a fridge freezer in the garage that I never use, but is always on. I might defrost that and switch it off. Not sure if that will make a huge difference, but seems a waste of energy. We used to use it more when there was three of us there, but I don't use it now.

And when I say new build it was built in the 90's so not new new.

£151 per month?! Bloody hell

I had EDF in the far distant past and more recently isupply decide that they didn't believe my bills, hence why they kept DDs so high. They both had to pay back the money in the end, but it's so much hassle. @honeysucklejasmine - make them say explicitly that they don't believe the readings you give them, both companies sent me compensation when I raised a complaint about them saying that. (EDF was particularly weird because they'd also sent THEIR OWN METER READER and still said they didn't believe the reading; I was working away a lot but even so it was a ridiculous argument.)

longwayoff I know. I'm starting to realise something isn't right! Although I have been trying to overpay, but even when SP recalculated my DD at my last meter reading it was £140.

So I've just done uSwitch comparison. I'm torn.

Bulb - would save £355 a year, no fee to leave, £93.94 monthly Direct Debit, a great customer rating - but it's variable - and that worries me.

EDF - would save £321 a year, £35 per fuel to leave plan early, £96.19 monthly Direct Debit, customer rating not as high - but it's Fixed for 13 months. Interestingly the most popular in my region (Yorkshire).

Either way I'm going to switch today I think. I'm just going to check with Scottish Power that are no exit fees.

Good tip, Excited, will do.