npower annual discount

roddydogs

If the discount is applied after 1 year, surely the fact taht you dont see it till the next bill is immerterial? if you leave after 1 year, you will still get the discount.?

meggsy

roddydogs, yes you should get your discount after a year when leaving, but if remaining with them they are saying that it could be 18 months before the discount is seen on the statement. If they are producing bills a couple of days early before the anniversary date as in my case then they get to keep up to £100 for another six months, multiplied by x number of customers ? !

I heard from Consumer Focus yesterday who have investigated and they say that although the approach is unfair it is within the legal/regulatory framework :rolleyes:

I'll need to ask permission of Consumer Focus to be able to post their reply in its entirety.

jblackmore

I switched to nPower Sign Online 14 having been stiffed by E-ON trying to increase my energy prices when everyone else is reducing them.

I phoned and queried the annual discount and was told it was applied on the 12th DD payment was taken, my gas and elec switched on 23/27th April, but first DD is 1st June, so they have already stretched this out a month, but I am not too bothered as long as they apply credit on 1st June next year.

Clearly the annual discount is to encourage customers not to leave mid-year, which I think is fair enough, but if they mess me about, or someone else is much cheaper, I would probably just switch anyway and chalk it down to experience.

I've phoned nPower a couple of times to check/query account numbers DD etc and have been very impressed with speed of calls being answered and helpfulness of staff - so hopefully I can avoid switching again too soon (I only seem to switch energy companies when they push me into it by messing me about, putting up DD, or trying to switch me to more expensive tariffs ;-)

slinga

I've been considering switching to nPower but think twice when I read comments about them.
I have a low usage, in fact for 6 months a year I'm out of the UK during the winter period.
Will I get the £100 discount and will I also get the cashback from Quidco if I switch through them???

Thanks in advance.

dogshome

I've just left n'power, the last straw being no adjustment to my prices in April as they said my current tariff was already cheap - I had nodifficulty in finding better prices elsewhere. But two things used to annoy me about them 1) The twice yearly billing may seem OK at the outset, but you lose a valuable tool in being unable to keep an eye seasonable consumption 2) The annual discount is a farce - What you are in fact doing is giving them a loan with every D/Debit you pay, a loan which they keep
if you move supplier - far better to get a D/D discount off every Qtly bill you get from someone else

1carminestocky

dogshome wrote: »

I've just left n'power, the last straw being no adjustment to my prices in April as they said my current tariff was already cheap - I had nodifficulty in finding better prices elsewhere. But two things used to annoy me about them 1) The twice yearly billing may seem OK at the outset, but you lose a valuable tool in being unable to keep an eye seasonable consumption 2) The annual discount is a farce - What you are in fact doing is giving them a loan with every D/Debit you pay, a loan which they keep
if you move supplier - far better to get a D/D discount off every Qtly bill you get from someone else

1) I concur. Said it before, but 6 monthly billing is indeed a joke. Yet another example of cost cutting with absolutely no regard for customer service.

2) I concur yet again. It's an exit fee in all but name. Sneaky as well as the switching sites assume you will be with them for at least 12 months (yes, but will the tariff still be competitive by then??) and therefore quotes the price including the annual discount. I would wager there are a majority of people who sign up not even aware of the fact they will have to stay for 12 months minumum...

slinga

When I try the comparison sites for duel fuel I find that for the best 4 or 5 there is not a great amount of difference in the cost.
They are all competitive.
Therefore I can't see much point in chopping and changing during a period less than 12 months.
Do people really do this for a few quid.

PS I don't like throwing money away but can't see the point in continually changing suppliers.

meggsy

Just a quick update ... On twice yearly billing March and September, dual fuel SOL 13. Gave an online meter reading in June which they normally note for next bill, instead they produced a statement and reduced the DD by £30.

KimYeovil

slinga wrote: »

Therefore I can't see much point in chopping and changing during a period less than 12 months.
Do people really do this for a few quid.

It is not necessarily a few quid.

If your combined bills are £18 or less per month and the cashback is £62 to £100 every two months then it means you receive free fuel and free cash. Free energy and free money for a task that takes three minutes or less once every two months.

It's a corrupt system and I hope it dies out. It is good to see British Gas has withdrawn from the game. Let's hope the remaining players also give up.

(And even if you are not a low user, 400 to £500 per year cashback is not a sum to be thrown away lightly.)

meggsy

It's that time of year again so I have brought up my thread of last year about the annual discount ! Last year there was a lot of confusion about when the discount would be seen on statements.

My anniversary date is 10th March and I had a letter from npower in December 2008 re dual fuel statements, there would now be one statement which would be received twice yearly instead of quarterly. This letter does not state which months they would be received, but I assumed that they would be available in March and September. Not so, because npowerland did not produce a bill in March this year and tell me my bills will now be received in June and December and the discount will be applied to the June statement.

So the question is, are npower being sneaky in moving the bills to June and December so giving themselves three months free of paying the discount in the first year when customers are switched from quarterly to twice yearly billing ? or ... has anyone found that they actually pay the full 15 months discount ?