n'power bill help wanted

dogshome

I'm trying to check the n'power D/fuel, Direct Debit paid account for a hard working single mum - The big problem is that I have only 2 bills to go on and don't even know the tariff she is on.
However BILL 1 covers 11th Feb 2008 to 12th Aug. 2008, a period of 184 days. During which she paid for 362 Primary units on Electricity which would equal app 718 a year, and on Gas she paid for 1215 Primary units which would work out to app 2409 a year
BILL 2 covers 13th August 08 to 18th Feb 2009, a period of 190 days during which she paid for 362 Elect. Primary units which would equal 695 a year, which is not too far off Bill 1, but on the Gas she paid for 3308 Primary units which is app 6358 a year!
My guess is she's been sculpted, but without knowing her tariff which she has lost the paperwork for, I'm a bit stumped as to how I challange n'power - any ideas out there?

ricky9

Understanding our pricesHow are my bills calculated? - npower home energy

We want our prices to be clear. This page explains how we apply our prices.
Our credit prices are normally based on two rates: primary and secondary. The primary rate applies to a maximum of 4572 kWh (units) of gas and 728 kWh (units) of electricity that you may use throughout any continuous period of 12 months. Above this volume, we charge at the secondary rate which is cheaper.
Primary rate electricity is charged evenly across the year at a rate of 2 units per day.
Primary rate gas is charged across the 12 months on a seasonally adjusted basis, with more primary rate units being charged in the winter months as follows:
Months Maximum units charged at primary rate
per month
Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb 882
March 272
April, Oct 271
May, June, July, Aug, Sept 46
Annual total 4572

Why do we charge in this way?
There’s no standing charge on most of our credit tariffs so the primary rate covers the fixed costs we have to pay in supplying gas to you, e.g. distribution and metering costs.
For gas we charge more units at the primary rate during the winter months to reflect the fact that most customers use more gas in the winter, and to ensure that all our customers pay a fair share to cover our fixed costs.
For electricity we charge the primary rate units evenly throughout the year because electricity use is more consistent across the year.

Does this seasonal weighting apply to all gas tariffs?
No, it doesn’t apply to Tracker, Fixed Price 2009, Sign Online 8, 14 & 15, Web 14 & 15 or Prepayment tariffs.
If you are on Tracker or Fixed price 2009 your primary rate gas is charged across the 12 months on a seasonally adjusted basis, with more primary rate units being charged in the winter months

Seemore_2

Hi dogshome, I dont know if this is any help but I am with npower (dual fuel) and pay monthly by direct debit. On my last paper statement the tariff is shown on page 2 where it says how your electricity/gas adds up. It appears in the box underneath the black column headers which also shows the meter number. Mine is Standard Sign Online 14 (although I've just switched to 16).

dogshome

ricky9 & Seemore Thanks you guys, both of great help - I do know that this single mum signed up for n'power in July 07, so I'll now trawl through the sculpting pages to see where she stands
Cheers

meggsy

It's a long trawl through the sculpting thread, can I suggest you post your question there dogshome

Hippychick

Could be worth checking her gas consumption as well as 3308 primary units is huge, we've only used 10 primary units in the last month!

Is her heating on all the time? does she have an immersion etc? Also double check whether her meter readings are metric or imperial and check whether the bill is correct, sometimes you can be charged for imperial readings when they are metric and vice versa.

stewie_griffin

Hippychick wrote: »

Could be worth checking her gas consumption as well as 3308 primary units is huge, we've only used 10 primary units in the last month!

Is her heating on all the time? does she have an immersion etc? Also double check whether her meter readings are metric or imperial and check whether the bill is correct, sometimes you can be charged for imperial readings when they are metric and vice versa.

Are you sure you haven't used 10 units as recorded by your meter i.e. either cubic metres or feet? The OPs figure of 3308 will be kwh.

KimYeovil

11 Feb 2008 to 18 Feb 2009 she was charged 4523 Tier 1 units. So a reasonable number. (Current tariffs have 4572 primary units.) Don't confuse seasonal weighting with artificial sculpting.

(I think the brouhaha over deceptive sculpting is only for pre 2008 bills.)