NPower mega bills

Magentasue

Mandie wrote: »

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

Mandie

Mandie wrote: »

I've decided I'm going to get a 0% interest credit card ... Cheaper than paying Npower and letting them have my money earning interest.

I'm fed up with paying these utility companies too much money Mandie

I think you're missing the point - if you "can't afford this", surely it's the hot tub and tumble drier that need to go, rather than the DD?

ned-kelly_2

I have a similar problem to Mandie. We switched to npower last autumn. We were with eon, paying £44 dd per month. A web search showed that with npower our dd would be £32, great as we both had to sign for job seekers. As we left npower we were in credit, the direct debits were working out just right over the year. The new chaper rate from eon lasted for the first £11 of electric, according to the bill we just got (introductory rate to get us, it would seem). Npower has now increased our dd to £90 per month, they say we will use over a third more electric in the next six months than over the winter. I have rung them three times but there is no arguing with them, I have told them that our usage will drop by two thirds over the next six months, but they do not want to know. So beware when leaving your old supplier, the grass isn't always greener.

Magentasue

ned-kelly wrote: »

Npower has now increased our dd to £90 per month, they say we will use over a third more electric in the next six months than over the winter. I have rung them three times but there is no arguing with them, I have told them that our usage will drop by two thirds over the next six months, but they do not want to know. So beware when leaving your old supplier, the grass isn't always greener.

This is presumably because you are building up debt - your supplier will want you to clear this debt over the next quarter so that you can build up a credit balance over the summer - that's why you get a DD discount.

The lesson to learn is that you switch to lower your kwh cost, not your DD. If you switch between summer and winter, you have to expect your DD to increase because you won't have a credit balance to use up over the winter. Calculate your annual use in kwh - then once your debt is cleared, you can work out how much you need to pay to avoid this happening again. If you switch and pay a low DD, it'll catch up with you.

ned-kelly_2

Yes we understand that now, all too late. Perhaps they should explain this when people switch? We wrongly assumed that the anual usage would be divided by twelve. A lesson for the future.

SwanJon

ned-kelly wrote: »

I have told them that our usage will drop by two thirds over the next six months, but they do not want to know.

How did you get this across to them? Did you give them readings from last year to back this up? Are you giving them regular readings now?

ned-kelly_2

They calculated the dd using our previous years bill, but are not interested in seeing proof. We have bills showing usage for the last two and a half years. Our usage has fallen dramatically in this time.

Magentasue

If you take the number of kwh you used Jan/Feb/Mar last year and cost it, how much does it come to?

How much do you owe on your last statement?

ned-kelly_2

Would have to sort out the bills to work out last jan feb march. We owe them £150 ish on this bill.

Magentasue

ned-kelly wrote: »

Would have to sort out the bills to work out last jan feb march. We owe them £150 ish on this bill.

So you need to be paying £50 per month plus whatever your monthly payment should be to cover current usage - £90 a month seems fair.

ned-kelly_2

Yep thats right its fair untill we are in credit.