NPOWER with a 17% hike in prices - Here we go

Perez wrote: »

I have a dual rate meter but don't use that much electricity at the low rate - does anyone know whether it is likely to be in my favour to switch to a single-rate tariff, especially now as the rates have gone up?

I assume you mean Economy 7?

There is no easy way to calculate exactly if Economy 7 is cheaper or not. It depends on where you live, your tariff etc.

Generally unless you have electrical storage heating it is difficult to make Economy 7 pay.(but not impossible)

As a rough rule of thumb if you use less than 25%-30% of your total electricity at the cheap rate, it is not worth staying on economy 7.

MoneyMiser wrote: »

Hi All,

Please be aware that people who recently switched to nPowers Sign Online 8 tariff will not be effected by these price hikes. The same goes if your on Sign Online 9.

12.7% increase on electricity prices and 17.2% on gas prices. That is a massive jump and will effect people on the Standard, pre-payment, economy 7, SOL 4, 5, 6, 7 tariffs.

I wonder who will be next, I would bet my house that British Gas is next!!!

MM

Well I just got the shock of my life when my latest npower gas bill informed me that my direct debit will be almost doubled :eek: I called them to see what it's all about and was told that because of my usage (which I dispute) it will be going up anyway, but also they've had to take into account price rises - but i'm not a new customer!! I've lived here for a year and a bit and am with npower for both gas and electricity. Am I right in thinking that they're are the priciest energy providers around? I live on a really tight budget so these price hikes are very bad news for me - i'm also really careful with my energy consumption as I hate waste, so I can't see what more I can do.

Sorry for hijacking this thread (as this probably belongs somewhere else - and has probably been covered loads of time before!) but would it be worth switching? I'm a bit scared of it all to be honest, and wary of hassle (I have enough stress in my life without adding to it!) but perhaps there is a way I can save some cash. Any advice would be great

magyar wrote: »

Hi Scorpio Princess.

Have you looked through the main site details on this?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

The advice at the moment is not to switch, but to wait until the providers have all made their changes.

Thanks for this - i've got some thinking to do now. If I switch to powergen (or E.ON or whatever they're called now) the energyhelpline.com website reckons I could save 45% - even if they (predictably) raise their prices, I should still make some savings shouldn't I? I've also never switched before, and Martin says that people in this position should switch anyway.

BUT... Because I have both my gas and electricity with npower, I am due my £80 discount, but I have no idea how or when this will be implemented (I haven't received a quarterly electricity bill yet, so I guess it might be on there). If I don't switch now because i'm a)waiting for all the price rises to come in and b)waiting for my discount, I may be seriously out of pocket with the proposed rise in my monthly direct debit.

Oooh I hate being a grown up sometimes!!

ps i've never been offered any other tariff by npower as I never realised they could be that different to each other (call me naive).

pps - if I ring npower tomorrow to tell them i'm going to switch (if I decide to do so), they're going to try to scare me off doing it aren't they? Also, just how awkward is switching? I hate call centres (especially ones where the people who answer the phone cannot understand or be understood), and hate hassle, but I also hate being ripped off!

scorpio_princess wrote: »

Thanks for this - i've got some thinking to do now. If I switch to powergen (or E.ON or whatever they're called now) the energyhelpline.com website reckons I could save 45% - even if they (predictably) raise their prices, I should still make some savings shouldn't I? I've also never switched before, and Martin says that people in this position should switch anyway.

BUT... Because I have both my gas and electricity with npower, I am due my £80 discount, but I have no idea how or when this will be implemented (I haven't received a quarterly electricity bill yet, so I guess it might be on there). If I don't switch now because i'm a)waiting for all the price rises to come in and b)waiting for my discount, I may be seriously out of pocket with the proposed rise in my monthly direct debit.

Oooh I hate being a grown up sometimes!!

ps i've never been offered any other tariff by npower as I never realised they could be that different to each other (call me naive).

pps - if I ring npower tomorrow to tell them i'm going to switch (if I decide to do so), they're going to try to scare me off doing it aren't they? Also, just how awkward is switching? I hate call centres (especially ones where the people who answer the phone cannot understand or be understood), and hate hassle, but I also hate being ripped off!

You don't need to tell your current Supplier if you are switching, you contact the one you want to switch to and they tell your Supplier.

Change of Supply is a fairly easy process however you need to protect yourself by taking the handover reading and giving it to your new Supplier quickly. They will then accept it and it will also reach your old Supplier to produce a final bill from.

There are some data handovers between parties but these generally take 6-8 weeks to complete.

Your cashback for dual fuel is paid on your settlement quarter (the anniversary at your 4th quarter) and is added to your bill. It will be clearly shown.

If you change Suppliers before this, any anniversary based discounts are not paid.

If you stay for 12 months and don't see it on your bill, call them and explain this. They will then manually add it for you as sometimes customers don't get the discount due to missing markers placed on your accounts to show you are entitled to it.

Of course, Npower will try and hard sell to stay since you would be speaking to a salesperson on a commission but remember you don't need to even tell them your intentions.

huttonc wrote: »

Just for your info if remaining with NPOWER for the time being !!

Ring up Customer Services ... and ask for the Customer Retentions Number (it should be an 0800 number)

Ask to be placed on SIGN ONLINE 9. Its the only tariff that didnt suffer a price rise on NPOWER.

Not true, Sign online 8 didnt rise and the only reason sign online 9 didnt rise is because it was around 17% more expensive in the first place.