Switch from BG to Npower?

Curry_Queen

I'm with BG at the moment (not my choice, they were the suppliers when I moved in) on their standard dual fuel tariff and have today received my first bills from them. To say I'm not happy is an understatement! :rolleyes:

First of all they have sent me estimated bills, despite having both my meters read a few weeks ago and both are way out (under-estimated) compared to my actual usage! When I called to ask why, they told me my actual usage appeared a little higher than average so they didn't want to present me with an initial huge bill?????

I can only assume from what the guy said that ...

a) they think I will only look at the final figure on my bill and think "wow that's cheap, I will definitely stay with BG!" and get another 3mths supply out of me.

b) and/or attempt to charge the under-estimated usage at the new higher rate on my next bill!!! :mad:

As it is, their calculations were not consistent and a much larger proportion of the bill was charged at the new higher rates from March 1st! :rolleyes:

On top of all that, the Winter rebate allowance that I signed up for in December also hadn't been deducted, as I was told it would be, and when I queried it I was told that I'd have to send off the letter I received stating I was entitled to a rebate to some Admail address! Has anyone else had to do this?

The only reason I haven't switched from BG before now is because of the promised rebate! Anyway, I have been checking the energy comparison sites and they all have Npower coming up as the cheapest option, saving me over £300 a year on BG's current prices!!! :eek:

The only problem is that from past experience I always said I'd never touch Npower with a bargepole ... are they still as bad as they used to be or should I risk it for the savings they claim to be able to make me? How much control would I have over the monthly DD payments as this is an issue I've seen with time and time again with other people who were forced to pay over the odds, accruing a large credit, which they then struggled to have repaid.

Second on the list was Atlantic, followed by Powergen and then Scottish Power but from those I only have experience of Powergen and what a fiasco that was last year!

Who would you go with?

sammyy

Hi Curry Queen,Sorry I haven't had any dealings with Npower so cannot comment on that.I just wanted to say that I wrote a thread a couple of days ago about the BG seeming underestimating bills and refunding small amounts so as on the next bill you end up owing them and for a lot of people this is what takes the choice away as they can not afford to pay the large last bill required to switch.To be honest I'm a little dubious of all these comparision sites as they never seem to give a true reflection of what you will actually save.£300 a year saving on gas seems an awfully big reduction to me.For us as a family of 5 and quite high usage it would amount to a saving of roughly 50%.Something doesn't seem quite right.Make sure you check it out properly before comitting.

Edit:it seems I read wrong and the saving is for gas and electric.Still seems like a lot though.

lisyloo

To be honest I'm a little dubious of all these comparision sites as they never seem to give a true reflection of what you will actually save.

The ONLY way to be sure of the calculations is to do them yourself ensuring that you have the latest tarriffs.
It's very useful for this purpose if you keep 1 years worth of bills.

Curry_Queen

lisyloo wrote:

The ONLY way to be sure of the calculations is to do them yourself ensuring that you have the latest tarriffs.
It's very useful for this purpose if you keep 1 years worth of bills.

I have done the calculations myself, as I take weekly meter readings to monitor my usage, and worked out from that what my annual usage would be which is what I used on the comparison websites.

lisyloo

I have done the calculations myself, as I take weekly meter readings to monitor my usage, and worked out from that what my annual usage would be which is what I used on the comparison websites.

There are two potential problems here.

1) Firstly you don't say what period you took the readings over. I find my electricity is fairly stable but my gsa varies hugely depending on the temperature. If you took a few reading in the winter then it won't be accurate for annual use . A year is better. Obviously if you don't ahve that then you will need to estimate.

2) The comparison sites are not always up do date unfoortunately, this is why I suggested making sure you get the latest up to date information.

Cardew

Curry_Queen wrote:

I have done the calculations myself, as I take weekly meter readings to monitor my usage, and worked out from that what my annual usage would be which is what I used on the comparison websites.

Have you taken account of the new NPower prices that start on 01 April?

Blackjack_Davy

Curry_Queen wrote:

The only reason I haven't switched from BG before now is because of the promised rebate! Anyway, I have been checking the energy comparison sites and they all have Npower coming up as the cheapest option, saving me over £300 a year on BG's current prices!!! :eek:

The only problem is that from past experience I always said I'd never touch Npower with a bargepole ... are they still as bad as they used to be or should I risk it for the savings they claim to be able to make me? How much control would I have over the monthly DD payments as this is an issue I've seen with time and time again with other people who were forced to pay over the odds, accruing a large credit, which they then struggled to have repaid.

I'm on nPower and I've recently had a letter from them saying that my bills are going up just like everyone else I assume that like Martin said on radio 2 a couple weeks back that the price comparison sites havn't updated yet so these prices are out of date and any company that hasn't put it's prices up yet will do so soon so I wouldn't be inclined to trust any of these sites at the moment.

I can say yes they do take a regular direct debit sum each month which bears little relation to the meter reading but last time when I phoned through with my meter reading I got through quickly and the girl on the phone was very helpful and I got a refund within days. Hope this helps.

Curry_Queen

lisyloo wrote:

There are two potential problems here.

1) Firstly you don't say what period you took the readings over. I find my electricity is fairly stable but my gsa varies hugely depending on the temperature. If you took a few reading in the winter then it won't be accurate for annual use . A year is better. Obviously if you don't ahve that then you will need to estimate.

I have 3 month's worth of readings that I have used to make my calculations, and being as I haven't had my heating on for the past two weeks I think I can pretty accurately guestimate what my annual usage will be. I also peeked into my crystal ball so I know exactly what the weather conditions will be for the next 12mths too

lisyloo wrote:

2) The comparison sites are not always up do date unfoortunately, this is why I suggested making sure you get the latest up to date information.

Well unless suppliers' websites are also out of date, their published current rates also concur with what the comparison sites quoted me, but thanks anyway for your advice

Curry_Queen

Cardew wrote:

Have you taken account of the new NPower prices that start on 01 April?

That's interesting, I wasn't aware of that, thanks!

I think that's given me the push I needed to decide NOT to go with Npower and will probably choose Atlantic instead, especially after reading some quite favourable reports about them on the forum today

Kasa_2

Hi does anyone know if 'Seeboard' are any good, i'm with British gas at the moment.

Curry_Queen

Curry_Queen wrote:

That's interesting, I wasn't aware of that, thanks!

I think that's given me the push I needed to decide NOT to go with Npower and will probably choose Atlantic instead, especially after reading some quite favourable reports about them on the forum today

Well, I still can't make my mind up who to go with

I've waited for the comparison sites to update the new tariffs and have checked again and nPower is still coming out tops with their "sign online SOL4" tariff with a massive saving of £381 pa over BG's standard dual fuel tariff, which I'm currently on.

Atlantic now doesn't even feature in the top four, second choice is Ebico followed by Powergen, then BG's click energy tariff.

Do I bite the bullet and sign up with nPower? ... bearing in mind I am then locked in with them for a year to benefit from the discounts they offer