npower hike today!

ralphthompson

hey,
i spoke to npower today, apparently they are announcing price hikes today. their phones will be off from 3pm.

ralph

brysiewysie

ralphthompson wrote: »

........... their phones will be off from 3pm.

Now that's what I call customer service (if it's true).

Curley

Phone line were closed until 3pm not closed from 3pm. I tried at 2pm and got an automated message saying that the lines were closed due to 'essential staff briefing'. I managed to speak to someone at 3.20pm after being inline for about 5 mins.

CarlMC_2

Sky News news ticker announcing npower increase Gas 26%, Electricity 14%

notbritishgas

Looks like they have increased the Dual Fuel/ DD discount from £80 per year to £100.

c0113tt3

I would be more concerned with this is a start of a new tariff year, or cycle that they now call it, where you pay no more than 4572kwh tier 1 per tariff year.

Tariff years or cycle btw are just a few to several months long each, i.e. you can have a max of 4572 kwh tier 1 on 2 occasions a year or more. In fact this is the 3rd tariff year, and it isnt even a year yet, nov 07, jan 08, aug 08.

To cut a long story short, you are paying more than 4572 kwh tier 1 gas per real year, which this was highlighted in the gas sculpt thread.

Gorgeous_George

I agreed to switch to nPower just a few weeks ago. I was assured that they would not be increasing prices before the New Year. I knew he was lying but fell for it anyway.

Time to switch again

GG

Scarlett.1974

Gutted

Can't switch because we're in arrears. Already paying £58.00 per month now...... dread to think what our usage will be in winter <cry>.

fiddling_flower_petals

Don't know how npower have calulated 26% rise in gas.
I've just checked uswitch for new rates and based on 11560 kwh per annum mygas bill will now rise 44%:eek: :eek: :eek:

Dread to think what my electricity bill will increase by.:mad: Electric increase annonced 14% , which will be closer to 20%.

However, duel fuel discount £63, direct debit discount for gas £21 and direct debit discount for electricity £21, which is £105. Rather than the previous £80 annual discounts.

Unfortunatly I 've still got a few months until my annual discounts are applied. But given the hikes in charges I may well need to bale out sooner.

c0113tt3

For yorkshire, which is an npower home area, i.e usually more expensive anyway, based on 13,000 kwh gas per year (low user) and pay by non direct debit and standard tariffs, and if they kept to 4572 kwh tier 1 gas per real year (which generally they dont due to tarrif years), npower worked out to be more expensive than all of the providers apart from 1, generally at least between £20 and £70 more. I also calculated anything between 500 to 2000 extra tier 1 kwh gas over the 4572 in a real year (which any figure between those is what you will really pay), and increases in increments of roughly £30 per 500 over the 4572 tier 1. This then makes it the most expensive.

For electric, average use of 3000 kwh, npower worked out to be the most expensive, between £30 and £110 more.

Im currently with ebico, and it works out atm at least £250 per year cheaper than all of the providers (with above useage figures, area , tariffs and payment method), but they are still yet to put up the prices.

crin

If anyone is on an income of £13,500pa or less the NPower has introduced something new. It works out as a one off rebate in Jan of £250 for dual fuel and then willl be quarterly after this. I signed up after checking out the price increase on Friday.

http://www.npower.com/spreading_warmth/Content/Spreadingwarmthtariff/index.htm

npower's Spreading Warmth tariff




What is the Spreading Warmth tariff?
It is a new tariff from npower that delivers a total dual fuel annual discount of £250 Exc. VAT (£125 per fuel).




Who is eligible?
If you have a gross annual household income of less than £13,500 and where someone in the household meets at least one of the eligibility criteria below:

• aged over 60
• disabled
• suffers from a chronic illness
• a child under 16

When will the discount be paid?
Initially the annual discount will be applied as a one off discount of £125 per fuel on the first bill after 1st January 2009. From the 1st of April 2009 the discount will be applied in quarterly discounts of £31.25 per fuel. Customers with prepayment meters, who sign up to the new tariff will be communicated to separately regarding how their discount will be paid.




How do I sign up?
If you are eligible or think you may be eligible please call us on 0800 975 1373*.




*Lines are open from 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am - 5pm Saturday. Calls may be monitored or recorded for training and security purposes. Calls to 0808 and 0800 numbers are free from landlines but not from mobiles. Calls to 0845 number from BT landlines will be charged up to 5p per minute. The price of calls may vary with other operators. Please check with your operator for exact charges.