Npower: Annual discount of £250

kev1n3

Just been flipping through the NPower website. It seems if your gross annual household income is less than £13,500 you could get a annual discount of £250. Has anyone signed up to this yet? Are there any catches?

Going to give them a call tomorrow me thinks,


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

KimYeovil

The catch is it is not available with their cheapest online tariff. As such, the difference between how much they charge you and how much the cheapest tariff available elsewhere (or even with themselves) is likely to be more than £125 per fuel.

(However, if you have a significantly less than average energy consumption then, yes, it is worthwhile.)

1carminestocky

Have you SEEN the price of the leccy on their standard tariff?????

reactor_3

You are a new customer, or currently on one of the qualifying tariffs chosen by npower from time to time.

Qualifying tariffs include our standard tariffs and some fixed price tariffs, but others may be added.

Once your account is set up on a Spreading Warmth tariff, the discount will be applied on 1st January 2009 for the first year, but may be applied in instalments from then onwards. We will notify you how further discounts will be applied.

So it seems you have to remain on the tarrif for a year to quailfy by which time the rates can increase?

You are basically trusting them not to overcharge you during the year.
Their cheapest tarrif contains the word 'standard' it would be a great deal on their cheapest tarif.

Sounds to good to be true, mind you, they can probably afford to given the amount of money they 'extracted' from me.

They have had press recently regarding overcharging, I think I was over charged when I was there my bill were staggering, thats why I left vowinig never to go back.


"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article4957266.
Npower has previously admitted that some customers were charged more than 4,572 units at the higher rate in a 12-month period

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article4957266.ece

reactor_3

They have several standard tarifs (containing the word standard) one of which would already have been the cheapest for me.

kev1n3

reactor wrote: »

"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article4957266.
Npower has previously admitted that some customers were charged more than 4,572 units at the higher rate in a 12-month period

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article4957266.ece

Great reading.. How do i get started in making a claim?

reactor_3

kev1n3 wrote: »

Great reading.. How do i get started in making a claim?

You can call them 0800 975 1373 free but be careful, don't sign up without reporting back

Remember you are tied in for a year or more to get the discount, so you are stuck on that tarif and rates might well go down, indeed some knowledgeable people are asking why prices have not dropped yet given the fall in the related oil price.

If you think are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts you may be deluding yourself. Thread carefully and get all the figures and work out how
change in energy prices may affect your.
It is more suitable for low energy users, the lower you use the better te discount is proportionally.

Oh and read up on the Npower Price Sculpting thread they don't sound like charitable people to me.

kev1n3

I;ve held back from signing up to the deal with them, but did call them to ask for copies of all my bills dateing back 5years. Just want to check what i've been overcharged over the last 5years. :-)

I've been sniffing around quite a few of the suppliers websites checking out their deals, it seems they all have something going on with gas and leccy as a part of the Goverments initative.

I found this http://www.warmfront.co.uk/do-i-qualify.htm well worth a read
you could be eligible for a Warm Front Grant.

Jesthar

I just decided to switch suppliers, and nPower were coming out near the top of all the comparison sites for my level of comsumption. However, I firmly crossed them off my list when I discovered that you only got your discounts once a year after you have been with them for the full year (including direct debit and dual fuel discounts), and that these discounts were also taken into account when calculating the 'savings' on the compatison sites. So therefore, you'd have to stay with them for the full year to save any money at all, and if they had a price hike you'd either have to stay and be charged higher, or switch and lose all your discounts.

Not my idea of moneysaving! :rolleyes:

~Jes

reactor_3

kev1n3 wrote: »

I;ve held back from signing up to the deal with them, but did call them to ask for copies of all my bills dateing back 5years. Just want to check what i've been overcharged over the last 5years. :-)

I've been sniffing around quite a few of the suppliers websites checking out their deals, it seems they all have something going on with gas and leccy as a part of the Goverments initative.

I found this http://www.warmfront.co.uk/do-i-qualify.htm well worth a read
you could be eligible for a Warm Front Grant.

Yea sorry seems I misunderstood you when you said how do I claim, I thought
you meant how to you get on the tarrif..

This is what it says on the Times link:-
==============================
How to make a claim
Gather together your gas bills. If you no longer have them, request them in writing from npower.
Npower should charge a maximum of 4,572 units of gas at the higher rate over 12 months. Check whether it has charged more. Use April 1 to March 31 as the starting and finishing dates. Look especially carefully at the years 2004-05 and 2007-08.
For each year, work out how many units over the limit you have been charged and multiply them first by the higher rate and then by the lower rate. The difference is the amount that you should claim for overcharging.
Check whether npower has ever given you an explanation of its charging methods. If not, state that you believe that you have been wrongly charged from April 2003 (or when you became a customer, if later) to the present day. Calculate your entire usage over the period and work out how much it would have cost at the April 2003 rates. Then work out how much you have actually paid. The difference between the two figures is what you should claim.
Template letters to help you to make your claim can be downloaded at timesonline.co.uk/money
===========================================

I have got all my old bills and letters, I have just gone through them for the first
year and it seems they charged me for over 6000 units at the higher rate
for the first year I checked, thats about 1500 units over what they should have
charged and works out at about £23.
I don't have a letter about the charging method either so they will be getting a claim
from me in due course when I have checked all the other bills.

kev1n3

Thanks for your advise reactor.. I called them to enquire if they would send me all the bills from feb 03 thru present day.

I have had no end of trouble with NPower. They have constantly given me the runaround on several other matter over the 5 years i have been with them, so its time to have a go back.

There are many MSE members that are very knowledgable with calculating the gas usage etc so no dobt i'll be needing help when i recieve the bills.

Thanks again

K