you can get your own back on them as follows:

your quarterly bill date range will stradle the date that they apply the unit rate increase. they dont read your meter on the midnight of the change date so they dont actually know how many units you used before the price increase, and how many you used after (at the higher unit rate) within that quarterly charging period.

they are very cagey about explaining how they decide how many units should be charged at the lower rate and how many at the higher rate within the period concerned. having talked to two levels of customer support at scottish power (who have not as yet announced a rise), they will not explain how they work this out but simply said it was by a computer program that considered previous usage!

after pestering the customer services supervisor she conceded that in the absence of an actual reading taken at the date point of the rate increase, evidence provided by the consumer would probably have more weight than thier computer program.


clearly if you had 'been away on holiday' for the part of the quarterly charging period when the rate was higher, you would be in a good position to dispuite thier charges and they would not be able to argue it really.




calculate your bill and if you know what your usuage has been in the quarter concerned.

record your actual meter readings the day before they announce a price increase. when they send you the bill for the quater which covers the price increase date