Are we being charged to much? Npower question

cherrykerry

Hi all

Me and hubby just moved in to a flat last week that has gas on a prepayment card meter. The gas man came last wednesday and reset the meter but when I topped up (didnt get a chance to do it until monday but was using emergency credit until then)I noticed £2.40 had been taken off for debt. Now I spoke to a chap at Npower this morning and he said the debt was for standing charge accumulated until I topped up and it takes off 45p a day for standing charge (he ran through the screens with me and its showing £0.00 as outstanding debt). now as far as I can make out we have spent a total of about £6.00 (standing charge and gas used) in 9 days since last Wednesday. That works out around 66p a day in total. We have a 1 bedroom flat and the only gas we use is for hot water and for the hob in the kitchen. My sister is with british gas and said she pays far less than that and that I am being ripped off (she is also on a prepayment meter). Could it be that she is being charged wrong as I didnt think that 66p a day sounded that much or am I just being naive?

Cardew

66p a day for standing charge, hot water and hob sounds a bargain!

DVardysShadow

cherrykerry wrote: »

Hi all

Me and hubby just moved in to a flat last week that has gas on a prepayment card meter. The gas man came last wednesday and reset the meter but when I topped up (didnt get a chance to do it until monday but was using emergency credit until then)I noticed £2.40 had been taken off for debt. Now I spoke to a chap at Npower this morning and he said the debt was for standing charge accumulated until I topped up and it takes off 45p a day for standing charge (he ran through the screens with me and its showing £0.00 as outstanding debt). now as far as I can make out we have spent a total of about £6.00 (standing charge and gas used) in 9 days since last Wednesday. That works out around 66p a day in total. We have a 1 bedroom flat and the only gas we use is for hot water and for the hob in the kitchen. My sister is with british gas and said she pays far less than that and that I am being ripped off (she is also on a prepayment meter). Could it be that she is being charged wrong as I didnt think that 66p a day sounded that much or am I just being naive?

This goes nowhere while you argue about pence per day. You can argue and compare and argue and compare, but you will never get to the bottom of it if you don't face up to reading the meter. There are 2 things to sort out:

• Is the correct amount of gas being recorded? What is your daily usage in cubic metres?
• Are you being charged the correct standing charge and the correct rate for the gas you use?

stephga23

Hi,

The standing charge with npower it is 45p per day, it is taken daily from the credit you have in your meter. If you are in emergency credit ( or in your case from the intital £10 the gas engineer left on the meter) the meter cannot take this.

It is therefore taken the next time you charge your card showing as a "debt" being taken on your meter.

British gas do not have a standing charge on there meter however, they have a two tier pricing.

If you wanted to work out who was cheaper you would need to take a meter reading i.e today then another next week. Work out how much it costs with npower compared to british gas. The overall unit price you pay for your gas is low which is why you pay the standing charge.

You could go down the route of changing your meter to a credit meter and paying by direct debit/monthly card to try and save money that way as no standing charge is charged on a credit meter.

Hope this helps