n-power - large bill £423

edrushuk

Hello,

I wonder if you can help me,

I live in a 1 bed flat, new build. Work full time, but in most of the weekends as I am on a DMP with no money for socialising. It is all electric, I have a tv, computer, washing machine (dont use the the dryer), fridge (with a little box at the top). I have wall storage heaters which have not been on since March. My tv is on most evening between 6 and 11pm, and all day at the weekend, which can be up to 18 hours each day.

I have just received a bill of £423 for the last quarter, which I think is horrendous.

I have spoken to n-power, who say the bill is correct, and we went through ways of saving electricity. But I am really scared, as I am already paying them £86 (£63 bill, £22 arrears), at this rate I am going further into debt! And winter is coming.

At the moment, I know I wont be putting on the heater, cause I just wont be able to afford it.

Do you agree £423 is very high, and what tips can you suggest getting down. I am starting to be more careful about switching of at the mains, and swapping to economy 7! And reducing the time I have the computer and TV on.

Help! Thank you!

Susanna

oldfella

that much electricity could only be used for heating or hot water.

are you sure its not an estimated reading - have you checked the reading ?

otherwise suggest you check the meter each day and record the KWh used.

we have a large house with an elec cooker and use £40 per month

Great_Hairdresser

Hi Suzanna

I am in the same boat, I have received a £780 bill from NPower in Aug, they have checked everything and say this is correct, MADNESS. In the last 3 years my electric bill doesnt come to this, so how can this be correct for 1 quarter?????

I have actually switched companys and am now paying Npower back £10 a month on priciple, I may be dead by the time its paid off.

Good Luck

edrushuk

Hi Oldfella, I dont have access to the meter (both electric and water) as it is locked away by the management company!! I have to ask them to check the meter for me. I have chequed with n-power and it is not an estimated reading they confirmed it is an actual.

Hi Great Hairdresser, wow I thought mine was crazy! I have been looking into changing my supplier, but was not sure I would be allowed to with arrears, but will looking into further now.

Thank you both

Susanna

Michael_Nottingham

edrushuk wrote: »

Hi Oldfella, I dont have access to the meter (both electric and water) as it is locked away by the management company!! I have to ask them to check the meter for me. I have chequed with n-power and it is not an estimated reading they confirmed it is an actual.

Hi Great Hairdresser, wow I thought mine was crazy! I have been looking into changing my supplier, but was not sure I would be allowed to with arrears, but will looking into further now.

Thank you both

Susanna

Susanna just to check did NPower say that both meter reads were an actual or just the last one?

If just the last reading was an actual, the previous one could have been an estimate and you could have been underbilled previously.

Even if it is an actual - it could be wrong - mistakes happen (transposed numbers etc).

Personally I would be seriously unhappy if I didn't have access to my own meter as it means you can never take control. It means you are always taking someone else's word for what you have used / owe.

There are no end of stories here of this causing problems for people and it leading to people not understanding how much they are using. I don't understand why management companies do this!

josh-j_3

Hi Suzanna

I am in the same boat, I have received a £780 bill from NPower in Aug, they have checked everything and say this is correct, MADNESS. In the last 3 years my electric bill doesnt come to this, so how can this be correct for 1 quarter?????

I've had a similar problem where I was in arrears of about £800 after 6 months, starting from a new meter- with 00000 readings- and their readings were correct. I've got Economy 7. But I noticed that I dont get 7 hours of heat at night, instead I get 5 hours then more time in a daytime boost. When I rang nPower to ask about this they said it sounded like a Super Tariff, which from these boards seems to be an older legacy tariff. Anyway, my actual tariff is supposed to be standard Economy 7 so they're sending someone to check the meter out. We'll see how that turns out, potentially they might refund a hefty sum, as the charging will be all off if the meter was installed with the wrong settings.

Just thought I'd share that in case people have a similar problem

PNPSUKNET

been all electric its not really that much, a normal property which is gas & elec would be £50 elec £50 gas on average but as you are all electric you put these together. How much of the day is your water heater on?

DVardysShadow

edrushuk wrote: »

Hi Oldfella, I dont have access to the meter (both electric and water) as it is locked away by the management company!! I have to ask them to check the meter for me. I have chequed with n-power and it is not an estimated reading they confirmed it is an actual.

Not having access to the meters is totally unacceptable. Really unacceptable. You need to see them for yourself, not take anyone's word for it.

property.advert

Sorry but people have to get their facts together and not rely on spurious numbers from a call centre.

As for Economy 7, you do get 7 hours, but it might not be the 7 hours you think it is. To be absolutely sure, you have to look at your machines kicking in. Also, don't forget the GMT and UK time difference.

Swipe

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

been all electric its not really that much, a normal property which is gas & elec would be £50 elec £50 gas on average but as you are all electric you put these together. How much of the day is your water heater on?

Over a winter quarter, maybe but over a Summer quarter that amount is very high indeed. As a comparison, my Summer quarterly electric bills are approx £60 and that includes immersion heated DHW on standard tariff.

skiTTish

My advise ,check check AND CHECK AGAIN ,their reading details !!!!

I just received my finial bill form N-power ,thought it was a mistake but they wouldn't have it !!
Turns out they based my final reading on my telephone number that I gave then when I rang to give the readings:mad: regardless of the fact ,there were too many numbers ...they just picked out the number in the phone number that fitted and ignored the rest!!! :mad:
Revised bill is £200 less !!
Thank god the MIL noticed the reading was almost our phone number ,then we realised what had happened but n-power had me almost convinced enough to pay!!!!!