nPower Price Rise Again

village_life

So N-Power has decided to raise prices of Gas and Elec significantly (+10%) again

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4792928.stm

I'm just about to move to a new house and was seriously considering going with them as they appeared to be the cheapest....

Now I'm not sure whether to listen to the little gas flame people and stick with British gas :rolleyes:

Bri_2205

Just to add to this;

The new prices are effective from 1st April 2006.

Npower have also introduced a new tariff, fixed until June 2009, similar to British Gas' Price protection tariff. The fundamental difference is that there is no penalty from exiting the scheme early, although the prices on this fixed tariff will be higher than the newly announced prices.

I'll give some more info when I get chance!

village_life

i'm not particularly well informed on utilities and such like, as a FTB about to enter my first home in April, what would people recommend for Gas/Electricity providers?

House is a 3 Bed Modern (1983) semi in cheshire
Gas Central Heating - current boiler due to replaced to a modern, efficient combi in the very near future.
Currently has an electric shower that will be used twice daily
Main Gas/Electricity use during morning and evening really, 7-8:30am and 5pm-10pm
and gas cooker probably used every night.....

realise people might not be able to give a firm pointer, so who is offering the best, most flexible deals at the moment, BG, NPower or Powergen???

penrhyn

I'd stay with whoever the current supplier is for a few months during which time you should monitor your usage.
Then armed with some data go on to the comparison sites.

daveboy

Last time we had this farce, I went to npower about a week before they rose their prices...but when I looked around...the comparison websites made out they were still the cheapest.

Now, I will sit and wait for a while before jumping in again. I will change but when Martin says 'change now', I'll be saying 'wait'!

I was one of many caught out last time and I won't let it happen again.

lisyloo

The comparison sites don't get upated straight away so you have to be careful.

Once you've narrowed it down then check the tarriff on the comparison site and make sure it's the latest.
Also do the comparison by hand as well to make sure.

It's useful to have a years bills to hand to do this to know your consumption esepcially as some usage will be seasonal.

windym_2

Ive changed twice in the last month! I was with Southern Electric and changed to Scottish. Who put up their prices so I cancelled but it was too late to stop. It has gone through and lasted a week before I changed to NPower who have just done the same to me. Am I jinxed!

tk

daveboy wrote:

but when Martin says 'change now', I'll be saying 'wait'!

I was one of many caught out last time and I won't let it happen again.

no one is able to judge when prices are about to rise/drop, in some instances you have to trust your own judgement.

i recently capped prices with powergen, BEFORE they anounced their price rises, it wasnt on anyones advice, i just felt that as there was no penalty to get out of the capped tariff unlike british gas, i had nothing to loose, and as it turns out,i had lots to gain!

good luck with your supplier!

Derek_A.

Didn't N.power put its price up in Janary by 15%, if so this makes it nearer 30% in 4 months?

lisyloo

no one is able to judge when prices are about to rise/drop

I would disagree with you a bit here.
We know that ALL companies are going to have to put their prices up because of the increases in wholesale prices, so it's fair to guess that if they haven't done it recently then they are likely to have to do it soon.
You can get a list of who has already, so I would say that you can make a reasonable judgement about who might and who might not.

Obviously you can't know for sure and exactly when, but you can make a reasonable guess.

For now I think it's best to sit tight until this round is over.

Cardew

lisyloo wrote:

I would disagree with you a bit here.
We know that ALL companies are going to have to put their prices up because of the increases in wholesale prices, so it's fair to guess that if they haven't done it recently then they are likely to have to do it soon.
You can get a list of who has already, so I would say that you can make a reasonable judgement about who might and who might not.

Obviously you can't know for sure and exactly when, but you can make a reasonable guess.

For now I think it's best to sit tight until this round is over.

When will 'this round be over?'

There were people who authoritatively posted that as NPower had just raised their prices in the last round (in January) so they wouldn't be raising them again for a while, so they were the company to change to.
I think I read that Powergen have had 5 price increases in 2 years.

The truth is we are in an era of leapfrogging price rises by all the companies. Those that delay their increases do so in order to persuade people to change to their company and once the customer is ‘captured’ they tend not to bother changing again.

Or, if they do not delay increases, they make lower increases than the others and then increase them by a further amount a few weeks later. Which is exactly what NPower have done.

There is not a company that has consistently provided the best value.