Npower, direct debit and usage

Annando

We moved into a new house on Feb.16, this is a very well insulated semi 2003 new build. We have a gas boiler (not sure what type in the kitchen) and a water heater on the 1st floor airing cupboard, all radiators have TRVs and there is a separate thermostat in the lounge that we can regulate to the desired temp. Our previous house was built in 1923 and we had cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and a 15 years old combi boiler which we would switch off for about 5 months of the year. The boiler was on a timer and would only come on at certain times, we also had TRVs on all radiators. For the 8 years that we lived in our previous house we used about 12000KWh of gas per year.

From the date we moved in (16/02) to our final bill from EDF (original supplier on 08/04 we used 3014 KWh. We then switched to Npower (at the time they were the cheapest). We just got our bill from the period 08/04 to 20/10 and it states that we used 4387KWh over the past six and a half months. I checked the readings and they seem to be correct.

Although the £35 direct debit per month seems to be covering our usage, Npower said at the end of the bill that according to their calculations we would be using 11483KWh over the next 6 months and accordingly our direct debit would now be £85 / month.

As you can imagine this is quite a jump and I was quite surprised. 11483 in 6 months is almost what we used to use for the entire year in our old house.

I first did a comparison and have found a much cheaper supplier who will save me £114/year, but this is of course assuming that my calculations are correct and that we are not using more gas than we were used to in our old house. Size wise they are comparatively the same and have the same number of radiators, if anything the insulation here is much better as there is carpet everywhere.

Does anyone know or understand how Npower has come to the conclusion that our gas consumption will be 11483KWh over the next six months? They just state that it is according to our present usage, and the call centre hasn't been much help.

Are they right in assuming that we will use that much and putting our direct debit up? I don't mind paying for whatever we use, but would rather have the money earning interest in my account then in theirs.

aelitaman

I have just left nPower because of this practice. They make it up basically. I was an nPower customer for 5 years so they knew all of my usage over a 5 year period. This april they wrote to me and said that they think my usage will suddenly double and my direct debit should double as well. I tried to challenge them but they were adamant, I could afford to pay so I did for six months. Also the other practive they do is say your gas usage will be xxxx over the next six months and then they say this will cost Y and they divide Y by 5 months to make the direct debit. So they are covering thier bums twice, once by inflating the Gas they think you will use and secondly by using less months to divide the usage over whcih they estiamte the usage will be over, check you bill to see the calculation they use to get to the DD payment. One method may be accetable to make sure that people are in a small credit situation but nPower seem to want to have thier cake twice over.

I moved to first utility because I get a smart meter and will now pay for what I use on a monthly basis and now more phoning nPower every six months.

Annando

Yes you are right that they divided the amount by 5 months but took into consideration my next DD payment in November.

My main concern is that because we have been in this house less than a year and I am not as used to this boiler as to the other one, I might be using more gas than before.