Why do the energy companies do this!

[Bob Minchin]

My account with Scottish power showed that my DD with them needed to rise to clear the balance when it came to the annual review. Fair enough to a problem to raise to clear the debt. However they put it up so that I would be in credit at the next review by £122 not just enough to break even! I went on the website and there is a graphical slider on the about of the DD and it allowed me to drag the DD down by £10 per month so that I would have a zero balance in a years time.

Do they think we are stupid FFS

[Bob Eager]

I had a similar problem with HMRC.

I did a part time retirement job last year, and it ended up with many more hours than I expected (I was paid for them).

This year I've cut that back to give me more time for hobbies, but I got a notice of coding in April that extrapolated my intermittent earnings last year to cover a whole year. This caused a large chunk of my pension to be additionally taxed.

I was amazed to find that HMRC allow you to correct that assumption online, giving a forecast of earnings from each employer.

[tabbypurr]

Yes. And some of the time they get away with it, so they keep doing it.

NT

[Dave Liquorice]

They'll be assuming that your useage that caused the orginal DD to not be enough to cover the years total bill to continue. Either the orginal DD was too small, maybe based on an under sized consumption figure or you consumed more than a normally correct consumption figure for some reason.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes and they also know that most people will not bother with the web site. Brian

[Rob Morley]

They must be making about 15p in interest on that - it's a scandal, I tell you.

[tabbypurr]

They use it for cashflow. That is the lifeblood of business.

NT

[alan_m]

Utility companies that have gone bust seem to have the habit of taking larger payments than necessary or double charging just before they go to the wall. Perhaps if Scottish Power are upping their customers' DD payments they are in financial trouble and are just about to call in the receivers?

[harry]

The answer is to give them quarterly meter readings on line. You can then pay on the phone using the phone keyboard.

[alan_m]

With Scottish Power PAYG account you can provide the meter reading at any time and get a bill a few minutes later based on the meter read. You can then immediately adjust your next monthly DD payment on-line.

[bert]

In article , Bob Minchin writes

No. Basically they want to keep you in credit over the coming heavy energy usage months. Come March/April they will probably then advise you to drop your DD. I had the reverse problem with OVO. Earlier in the year they suggested I dropped my DD to some ridiculous amount. I only went part way. Then this month they are advising me to put it back up.