NPower Beware of quoted prices -not what they seem

Saversue

I have been investigating a cheaper supplier now that British Gas has increased it's Click 5 online rates. NPower comes out cheapest (just) on all the main comparison websites But there is a catch. The annual and monthly rate they quote is not what you pay. You pay an additional £105 per year or £8.75 per month, so my quote of £63.00 per month would actually be a payment of £73.00 per month.
You only get the discount; of up to £105.00 back at the end of 12 months, if you continue to take your supply with NPower and pay by the same method for a full 12 months. The £105.00 only applies if you have Online Direct Debit for Gas and Electricity =£21.00 for each and a duel Fuel Discount of £63.00.
I really think this should be stopped. How can they quote one price and charge another, it it legal?

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KimYeovil

Thank you for telling any newbies. There may be 0.001 or 0.0001% of readers of this forum who do not already know this.:p

There are also other annual or monthly rebates that MOST OF THE OTHER quotes also include. There are also some first year only joining deductions that may be included.

dream41166

I joined Npower from an online comparrison site as they came out cheapest on them all, but as soon as I was with them they have increased my payments every time a bill comes. i was in credit by over £200 and they said they fell that my payment wont cover the energy use and increased it again. its a con, they are getting interest on other peoples money. if they have a couple of thousand customers that are £200 or more incredite that adds up to alot oof interst in a bank account. :mad:

Saversue

KimYeovil wrote: »

Thank you for telling any newbies. There may be 0.001 or 0.0001% of readers of this forum who do not already know this.:p

There are also other annual or monthly rebates that MOST OF THE OTHER quotes also include. There are also some first year only joining deductions that may be included.

Excuse me for being the 0.001 or 0.0001%. But, surely people expect to pay the quoted price, not find they are paying extra, so after 12 months they can get it back and pay what they originally expected to pay in the first place. If they quote a price per month or year that is what you should pay. I would like to know what Martin thinks? It's got to be mis-selling.

michaels

Me too - so if I look at gas only prices on a comparison service surely this doesn't include any dual fuel discount as suggested above?

KimYeovil

Unfortunately, Martin and many MSErs are virulently in favour of Direct Debit discounts and twelve month lock-ins.

The trouble is, of course, if the prices change before your anniversary you will lose all the extra £8.75s you've paid if you want to switch. This may be bearable if you're paying £70 or £100 per month but makes such a tariff unuseable for those who only use £10 or £15 per month.

The comparison sites do tell you that they are annual quotes. One lists the cost column as "Expected Annual Spend". I don't know any that quote monthly prices. They explicitly detail the discounts in the tariff details pop-ups. Here's an example from one of them:

The savings quoted include any discounts associated with this tariff. The discounts will be paid to you annually in arrears from your final bill of each 12-month period. To qualify, you must take your supply from npower and pay by the same payment method for a full 12 month period – this period does not have to be a Jan-Dec calendar year.

Not all discounts are annual - some are monthly. The disadvantage with monthly discounts is that they are pro-rata to your consumption (sometimes even just pro-rata to your tier 2 consumption - no discounts in summer). The advantage with monthly is that you are protected from losing them when you switch (sometimes).

Michaels, single fuel tariffs also have discounts. They are smaller, but they are detailed.

Competition through obfuscation.

brysiewysie

I never knew that. Thanks OP

michaels

@Kim

Thanks for the info - I had done a combined gas and electric search on energylynx and found that it was cheaper to go for sperate gas (npower) and electric (BG Click 6) but from your comments I was wondering if the single fuel gas price being quoted included the dual fuel discount...on checking it did not include the dual fuel discount only the £21 annual discount so not such a big factor on a £900 annual bill amd covered by the quidco switch cash back anyway.

Interestingly there seems to be some shaping of the high-rate / low rate units to reflect the demand pattern over the year.

I have often wondered whether it would be cheaper to switch tariffs each year in April and Septemeber so that the high usage in the winter is on a high standing charge (or intial unit rate) but lower average per unit price for high usage and then in the summer chose a low user (low stranding charge/inital units rate). Has anyone ever done the maths on this?

Premier_2

Saversue wrote: »

Excuse me for being the 0.001 or 0.0001%. But, surely people expect to pay the quoted price, not find they are paying extra, so after 12 months they can get it back and pay what they originally expected to pay in the first place. If they quote a price per month or year that is what you should pay. I would like to know what Martin thinks? It's got to be mis-selling.

I think you'll find most if not all sites spell out exactly what the unit costs are and what discounts, if any, are applied and how.

The price quoted is the annual amount you will end up paying based on the annual amount you say you will consume - however it is arrived at. Yes, if you don't meet the requirements of the discounts you won't get them, but I wouldn't like to be misled into going to a more expensive supplier B who, perhaps don't offer any discounts at all, but would end up a lower price compared to supplier A without the discounts I might otherwise be credited taken into account.

bengee1977

michaels wrote: »

I have often wondered whether it would be cheaper to switch tariffs each year in April and Septemeber so that the high usage in the winter is on a high standing charge (or intial unit rate) but lower average per unit price for high usage and then in the summer chose a low user (low stranding charge/inital units rate). Has anyone ever done the maths on this?

I was thinking this myself. Was looking at Changing to Ebico between April and September, then to somewhere else during the rest of the year. Due to the different prices and limits of tier 1 and 2 across all the suppliers, it ain't easy math! All i know is that our household uses 21,000 kwh in gas per year, but i didn't take note of individual months usage, just the year as a whole.