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Scottish Power to raise energy prices by 7%

ReenaSewraz
by Lovemoney Staff ReenaSewraz on 15 October 2012  |  Comments 6 comments

The domino effect continues as Scottish Power becomes the fourth provider to announce an energy price rise.

Scottish Power to raise energy prices by 7%

Scottish Power has revealed plans to increase gas and electricity prices by up to 7% from the 3rd of December.

Some 2.3 million Scottish Power customers are likely to be affected but at least 700,000 will be safe as they stay on  fixed or capped deals.

How it breaks down

But the average of 7% falls short of what the majority of customers will have to endure.

Monthly Direct Debit customers will face a rise closer to 8.7% on dual fuel bills bringing the annual cost to £1,271

Prepayment customers also have it bad as they will see an increase nearer 8.6% bringing their annual bill to £1,349.

Only quarterly cash or cheque customers will see lower increases of 1.4% but an average dual fuel bill of £1,368.

Rising prices

The energy giant is the fourth of the ‘big six’ to announce price hikes as the temperature drops.

Scottish and Southern Electric was the first to announce planned increases to bills of 9% back in August.

Just a few days ago, British Gas admitted it would need to put prices up by 6% from November and later that same day npower announced it would need to go further and hike prices by up to 8.8%.

It would appear that E.ON and EDF are likely to announce similar price hikes soon.

Why now?

The increases are broadly being blamed on Government energy efficiency programmes, transporting gas and electricity to homes and the rise in wholesale energy costs.

But energy companies are being criticised for being quick to put prices up in the winter but too slow to bring them back down in the summer.

What to do

Scottish Power will write to customers to inform them of how the rises might affect them.

The best course of action is to review your energy tariff and try to switch providers if your contract allows.

You can take a look at our comparison tables to get a broader view of the energy market which can detail exactly how much you can save by switching.

More on energy:

Simpler energy bills won't mean lower prices

Is Economy 7 a big con?

Scottish Power: fix your energy bills for two years

The Green Deal explained

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Comments (6)

  • fenemore
    Love rating 204
    fenemore said

    Predictable as night follows day - living proof, if proof were needed, that PRIVATISATION DOES NOT WORK. All the energy companies are joined at the hip - the consumer is no better off than when they were nationalised. However all the individual company directors are much better off with their multi-million pound salaries and their shiny new BMWs in their carparks!

    Report on 15 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • ronat42
    Love rating 62
    ronat42 said

    Let's get things right. Scottish Power HAS ALREADY raised prices by 18% in the past 12 months. I have been on one of their 30 or so dual tariffs for the past 12 months and it expires in November with the cheapest new tariff giving an increase of just under 20%. However, according to most comparison sites they are still one of the cheapest.

    With that in mind I am tempted to agree with fenemore but feel it necessary to add that the revenues from the sales went to pay down a chunk of the national debt only to have the deficit built up again by the last government. Unfortunately, we have to remember that Governments have never been able to run businesses very well, unless it is for the personal benefit of individual politicians, so if we weren't paying apparently excessive bills to private companies mainly foreign owned we should be paying extra taxes to subsidise the Nationalised ones.

    If we add the price hikes to the additional problem created by governments buying votes by spending money they didn't have just because things suddenly looked better we probably should have been better off by not privatising the power companies so perhaps fenemore really has got it absolutely right.

    Report on 15 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • nosbort
    Love rating 125
    nosbort said

    OK, hands up all those who don't want to pay more for their energy. Now put your hand down if you have ever said anything positive about green energy, saving CO2 emissions, too much air travel etc. Oh look, there are VERY FEW hands left up. If you want to reduce CO2 (and I am one of the few who could keep my hand up) and 'save the planet', then the price of energy has to rise, the inevitable result of this is going to be economic hardship for many people. Sadly this is where I and many other 'sceptics', who have been derided and roundly slapped down for any and all of our comments about the new religion of 'androgenic climate change', can say I TOLD YOU SO. Many have warned that the rush to 'green energy' is going to cause problems, well, here is the irrefutable evidence that we are right about the consequences of your actions.

    Report on 16 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • amwell44
    Love rating 39
    amwell44 said

    Last year and the year before, I was plagued by unsolicited calls from the same excitable Scotsman, urging me to switch to Scottish Power. I declined and ended up telling him to go and get a proper job. My point was that switching would not save me money in the long run, as SP would raise their prices like all the rest. This has come to pass, for the reasons well articulated by nosbort.

    Report on 16 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • ronat42
    Love rating 62
    ronat42 said

    It is very difficult to make sense of all the offers and promises but in answer to amwell44 I have to say that I have saved a considerable sum since I changed to Scottish Power. Having changed a little over a year ago I have regularly checked tariffs on several comparison websites and never once been offered a cheaper rate and shall not be changing until the contact expires in 6 weeks time.

    What continues to annoy me is all of the misdirection which is thrown at us.

    Report on 17 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • ronat42
    Love rating 62
    ronat42 said

    Just to finish my own tale I have just signed up to Scottish Power's fixed price tariff to April 2014 which should cost me 18/20% more but remains the cheapest main supplier's offer with only 2 being cheaper but not fixed. There are some out there that want to charge me 60% more so I am not complaining.

    This does show how misleading this article is and what a rat's nest this whole subject has become.

    Report on 25 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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