Is 93% a record rise in elec?

BerkshireBaz

We are on npower's SOL8 tariff, and have enjoyed electrcity at 6p per kWh. However, an email enquiry on Friday has revealed that they are about to start charging us 11.5p per kWh. Our annual bill will go from £908 this year to £1,752! I couldn't believe the email and managed (after two days!) to get them on the phone. They confirmed it is correct. I have contacted the energy ombudsman to see if this is legal. EnergyWatch say it is if it's in the terms & conditions (which we never received). Obviously we will switch. On a broader picture, the sort of increases we are all seeing cannot go on.

KimYeovil

Why would it not be legal? This is MoneySavingExpert. If the structure of the tariff changes so it is no longer suitable for your circumstances, see if you can find a better one.

It strikes me you were being undercharged before. 6p is between two-thirds and half what many people were paying! Be grateful for that! Think of all the money you have saved by being charged such a low rate.

BerkshireBaz

It was EnergyWatch that suggested it might not be legal - I have no idea why. Yes, we were grateful for 6p, and expected it to rise, but not by 93%

slipthru

Is this for a business?

I was talking to the people in the cafe i usually buy my lunch from and they had the exact same price rise as you. There company was Scottish power i think.

BerkshireBaz

No, it's a 3-bed house. We're all electric, and use about 15,000 to 18,000 kWh a year. So if you've heard of it elsewhere it's not exceptional then? We're just so shocked. We were expecting a large increase, but not nearly double!

I cannot understand the line of reasoning. They are aware that people are changing suppliers (this is our third in 18 months), so we'll just go to whoever is cheapest. I'm mindful of what Martin says about online accounts (which ours is). British Gas's Click 5 looks to be cheapest, but the last rise on that was May this year.

dgp1000

Hi - At least you got a sensible response to your email to npower. I'm on ScottishPower's Online Energy Saver 1 tariff. It is not shown on their website either as a live or discontinued product, so I emailed them and all I got was a stock reply that referred me back to their website.

I have been with them a number of years for gas and electricity and they've always been the (or pretty near the) cheapest for me (30,000kWh gas and 9,000 kWh electricity) and the service has been good. But I would really like to know as British Gas's Click 5 looks good and might be worth changing to.

fiddling_flower_petals

Hi Berkshire Baz

I'm a SOL8 customr too, and based on my annual consumption for gas and electric, my annual bill is now 36% more if I stay with Npower, which I thought was disgusting, but you've beat me hands down.
See my thread below, for ways to escape the increase whilst switching to another supplier.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1139925
I think the reason why SOL8 has increased by so much, when Npower raised there prices in Jan 08, it left SOL8 unchanged therefore we've just been brought in line with other tariffs, which is very frustrating because earlier this year when I looked in to a fixed price deal the extra £250- £300 it would have cost seemed excessive but now I could kick myself that I didn't sign up.

For me the only way forward is to switch suppliers 4 times a year using a cashback site and hopefully ofsetting by bills by approx £200 per annum.
Fingers crossed prices may well reduce in the future.

BerkshireBaz

Petals. Thanks, I've saved your thread in my 'Favourites' as we don't have a copy of the terms & conditions. I'm waiting for a reply from them today, but as it seems it will go ahead then we'll just switch. Those terms you publish are very interesting! We'll do it by recorded delivery too.

icstm

The issues imo is not the price rise per se, but the implied change to the product. See my post here

Basically the reason for the high increase in cost is the change to the rate structure, where the ratio between T1 and T2 pricing has changed. This changes the product, and not the price of the product.

They have many tariffs in current use at any one time, they can create a new tariff/product at any time and if I want it I'll switching to it.

They can raise their prices at any time to their current products/tariffs.

But they cannot change a product once it has been bought by customers.

Be_Happy

BerkshireBaz wrote: »

No, it's a 3-bed house. We're all electric, and use about 15,000 to 18,000 kWh a year. So if you've heard of it elsewhere it's not exceptional then? We're just so shocked. We were expecting a large increase, but not nearly double!

You say you are all electric. With this high consumption are you on Economy 7 Tariff, in which case you would have a day rate and a night rate?

DavidRossitter

Hi

I have just received bill increase with similar consequences. I am on SOL11 which I switched to 4 months ago.

Previously i was on 29.7p for the first 728kWh and then 4.87 thereafter

this has become 13.02p and a whapping 11.63 thereafter

I am on a house with Annex so are reasonably high users so most of our usage is above the 728kWh- that to me suggests my bill is going to be over two and half times higher. As far as I am concerned that is a change of product so will be switching straight away.

btw their letter suggests they backdate their price change to 29/8/8. Do I not get a reasonable period to agree to these prices and if necessary change to another one???

Thanks David