Help With Gas And Electric Bills

carlos700

I am supposed to be changing suppliers soon i did the switch over online about a month ago(i did it through quido just so i would get cashback) .I am presently with Npower but i should be going over to british gas soon ,switching both my gas and electric over .

This is my dilema i owe £350 combined gas & electric bill to npower i thought i could have paid this arrears off before the switchover but i havent and i dont think i can for a while . What will happen about the switch over will it just be cancelled because i suppose i will have a contract now with british gas wont i ? i am really worried i would just prefer to stay with npower now .Npower did agree for me to pay £185 per month i havent paid it this month cause i cant afford to i have no money can i ask npower to reduce this payment to an amount that i can afford ?

I feel so worried both about the sign over to british gas and affording to pay my arrears .I have always paid my bills on time before i just have this £350 amount to pay and i cant seem to reduce it (i havent had my heating on yet this year because i dont want my bill to go up any further .

KimYeovil

It is unlikely that Npower will allow the transfer to go through as once your energy is with another company they will have little leverage to retrieve their money. Debts can be passed on to the new supplier but again it is not likely that British Gas will accept a £350 debt.

It's possible but not likely. If you want to change supplier, clear your debt.

WhistleBlower

They will refuse the transfer.

Call them up, go on a pyment scheme and try again, 90% of the time they will then let you go.

carlos700

WhistleBlower wrote: »

They will refuse the transfer.

Call them up, go on a pyment scheme and try again, 90% of the time they will then let you go.

thanks for the replys npower have said i need to pay £185 per month to clear the debt but i cant afford this amount what are the chances of Npower letting me pay a smaller amount each month ?

Im not to bothered about changing suppliers i wish id never signed up to british gas now im more concerned about how im going to pay £185 per month when i prob can only afford to pay about £80 per month .

Magentasue

I think you need to draw up a detailed budget, work out what you can afford and make an offer in writing, including a copy of your budget. If it's acceptable, you need to keep your usage in line and it'll clear. If your offer is not accepted, I suspect prepayment will be your only option. Don't agree to a monthly payment if you're not going to be able to keep to it, especially at this time of year.

WhistleBlower

carlos700 wrote: »

thanks for the replys npower have said i need to pay £185 per month to clear the debt but i cant afford this amount what are the chances of Npower letting me pay a smaller amount each month ?

Im not to bothered about changing suppliers i wish id never signed up to british gas now im more concerned about how im going to pay £185 per month when i prob can only afford to pay about £80 per month .

Firstly find out how much of that is usage and how much is debt, the balance should be spread over 12 months (25 a month for £300) they will add on your usage to that and that's your monthly payment.

Once you have that figure offer to pay it over 18 months, request to speak to a manager if you need to. Rememebr to be nice, after all, you're basking a favour from them.

If that's still too high ask to be assessed for First step (you need to be spending more than 10% of your income on fuel, not including debt, and it's the entire houshold, not just the account holder)

If you get no joy that way, request that they spaek with the SAFE team, lovely people who run it, it's only a 5 person team, they can spread it out over longer periods.

If that doesn't work.....you're looking at PPmnt meters i'm afraid. NPower's electric prepay tarriff is currently cheaper than their standard one (rememebr to factor in approx £10 per quarter in standing cahrge, variable with location) each meter will eb set for £3 per week approx.

carlos700

Thanks very much for your advice i feel much more confident in ringing them now ,hopefully they will let me pay a less amount over a longer period of time