NPower mega bills

Mandie_2

Hi Everyone,

I switched to NPower 2 years ago I think. They said I would only have to pay £22 per month which I was well chuffed about. My 6 monthly bill up till July last year had suddenly jumped to £500 and they wanted £125 per month. How am I supposed to jump from paying £22 to £125. I phoned them and haggled down to £93 per month. I've just had the last 6 months bill and it's £625 and they now want £222 per month.

Help, £222 per month, I can't afford this, this is outrageous. Any ideas please.

Mandie

Treadway1

A few questions first,

Is that for Gas and Elec., or just one or the other and also have you checked your usgae on the back of your bills? What kind of property do you live in, and are you alone or living with someone?

KimYeovil

Trust your meters, not salesmen.

Mandie_2

That's just for electric!!

We live in a 1940's 3 bedroomed semi detached ex council house, all double glazed. I live with my husband and 2 teenage daughters. There is no-one home during the day except the dog, perhaps he's up to no good using loads of electricity lol.

I do alot of washing and tumble drying, but can't think where else the useage is going.

SwanJon

You need to make sure your DD covers what you are using.
Your bills show you using £1125 over the last year.
You have paid 6x£22 and 6x£93 = £690.
This puts you £435 in debt, and using £93.(assuming no price changes)
£222/month looks like they are trying to recover the balance in about 3 months.
Once you have it cleared it will drop down to £93 again.

Magentasue

To me, it looks as if you've built up debt - you can't expect to do 'a lot of washing and tumble drying' and pay £22 a month. You need to work out how much you can afford to pay, and then work out how many units a week that is and keep to that - otherwise it's going to cost you more - eventually.

Mandie_2

They're estimating that my next bill will be £632 ( that will be for some warmer months!) so adding that to £570 for this bill makes £1202 . They've divided this by 5 to get £222 per month. They are wanting us to pay in advance for the next 6 months so it won't go back down to £93.

I do the meter readings so the bill is not estimated.

Mandie_2

There was only £11 outstanding on the last bill, so not much debt built up really. They'll have to get what their given because there is no way we can afford £222 per month.

My amount of washing and drying hasn't changed over the years so shouldn't affect the bill that much.

Magentasue

Are you sure that they're using the meter readings you submit? When you say there was £11 outstanding on the last bill, this suggests that you have used up all the credit built up over the summer. You should have enough credit to see you through to spring. Do you use your tumble drier in the summer? And do you have any electric heating?

Mandie_2

I don't tend to use the tumble dryer much in the summer, but we started using a hot tub last summer. Haven't used it through the winter and no change to the bill, thought that would have bumped the summer bill up.

No electric heating, just oil.

I've decided I'm going to get a 0% interest credit card which you can collect airmiles, pay off the whole bill and then pay the card off at £100 per month. Cheaper than paying Npower and letting them have my money earning interest. And then hopefully we may earn enough airmiles to get some flights.

I'm fed up with paying these utility companies too much money so they can gain by having the money in their accounts.

Michael_Nottingham

Mandie wrote: »

I'm fed up with paying these utility companies too much money so they can gain by having the money in their accounts.

Mandy why do you think they can offer such generous DD discounts?