Npower gas bill

Lyz_Fox

Hi there,

Now please bear with me as I really dont understand any of this hence all of the (stupid) questions!
I have just received a bill from Npower for over £500, when I rang them up they asked me to give them a reading which I did, they have now issued a bill for over £600. When I called them regarding this huge amount (I had a direct debit set up for £35/mth at their advice) they have said its because our meter has only been estimated for the last 2 years, now I know for definate we had a guy come round in July (and this shows on their records) and Im sure we have had a couple before, my first query is, should they not have acted ont he reading that the guy did in July if it was that far out? Wont we now be charged at a higher rate for all of the electricity where as in theory some of the usage would be from 2 years ago? Why did they advise me at the end of last year to set up a d/d for £35 when this would not be enough & surely this is a huge bill for a 2 bed house (anyone know roughly what we should be paying per year as this works out to be a horrific amount over the 2 years we have been here?)

Apologies for all of the questions and not really knowing anything but any advice on this would be greatly received as I have just gone onto maternity pay this month & therefore am due to ring Npower tomorrow regarding payments as I cannot afford to go from £35/mth to the proposed £131/mth (does anyone have any advice ont his also?)

Thanks in advance

Lyz

Magentasue

I think £131 it is ya month is more realistic than £35.

Several issues here but you must bear in mind that it is your responsibility to check your bills and meter readings.

Yes, strange that the meter readings weren't used. You could do a search on this board and find out what people say about how you are charged for previous usage. I think there is a case for being charged at prevailing rates at the time for some of the units.

Assuming you don't dispute the present and last actual meter readings, you have used a large amount of energy that you have not paid for. You need to negotiate an extended period over which you repay the outstanding amount. You also need to work out your current usage, cost that at current rates and pay a realistic amount for that. If you truly can't afford it (by which I mean giving up any luxuries like Sky, broadband, second car etc) you need to get advice from CAB or similar.

It's a horrible situation to be in but has to be dealt with. You need to make sure you're not wasting gas and electricity too, and only using what you an afford to pay for.

The average household energy bill varies considerably - we pay £135 a month (six of us in 3 bed house) but we like our heating and have grown up kids on the xbox all evening. We are high users - not wasteful but not frugal. If you have things like a tumble drier, plasma TV etc., you'll use more than someone with a black and white TV and going away every weekend, so it depends on your lifestyle as much as your house size.