MSE News: Npower tops energy best-buy tables with new tariff

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Npower has launched a new tariff that makes it the cheapest in 11 of the 14 energy regions, according to price comparison sites ..."

Read the full story:
Npower tops energy best-buy tables with new tariff

glider3560

If I were to switch from SOL14 to SOL17, would my £100 annual DD discount remain on the same day, or would it change to a year from today?

DirectDebacle

glider3560 wrote: »

If I were to switch from SOL14 to SOL17, would my £100 annual DD discount remain on the same day, or would it change to a year from today?

See post #29 here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=27005319&highlight=#post27005319

There has been some debate on your question and it appears the DD discount is unaffected.... but with npower sometimes things are not always what they seem.

glider3560

DirectDebacle wrote: »

See post #29 here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=27005319&highlight=#post27005319

There has been some debate on your question and it appears the DD discount is unaffected.... but with npower sometimes things are not always what they seem.

Thanks for that.

Just looked over the offer again and can see there is a £40 exit fee before March 11, so we'll be sticking with what we are on now as the saving is only minimal.

notbritishgas

Tempted by this as I could apparently save £77 by switching from my SoL10 tariff (if allowed for existing customers).
But looking further I can see a catch. If I enter my current tariff as npower Standard into Energyhelpline it gives a current spend of £1088 and a new spend on SoL17 of £817 with a saving of £271. This is a saving of 25%.
The terms of SoL17 only Guarantee a saving over the standard tariff of 2% until March 2011. This means at any time between now and then they could increase the tariff as long as they do not go above the 2% saving. I guess this could happen as soon as they have snared enough people in.
Am I correct in my reasoning, but I am certain that npower at the kings of underhand tactics.

Bark01

I have not checked but there is usually something that waives the cancelation fee if price increase are deemed not to be in line with the industry. Its a very grey area though as there are no figures given as to what the that sentace means in real terms.

Cardew

notbritishgas wrote: »

Tempted by this as I could apparently save £77 by switching from my SoL10 tariff (if allowed for existing customers).
But looking further I can see a catch. If I enter my current tariff as npower Standard into Energyhelpline it gives a current spend of £1088 and a new spend on SoL17 of £817 with a saving of £271. This is a saving of 25%.
The terms of SoL17 only Guarantee a saving over the standard tariff of 2% until March 2011. This means at any time between now and then they could increase the tariff as long as they do not go above the 2% saving. I guess this could happen as soon as they have snared enough people in.
Am I correct in my reasoning, but I am certain that npower at the kings of underhand tactics.

This has happened with a number of tariffs recently.

Whilst they are currently well below the standard tariff - 10% or more - if you read the small print they only guarantee to be, say, 3% below standard tariff, so could increase by 7% and still be within their T&Cs.

I also notice with this NPower tariff a strange condition.

Customers on this tariff are guaranteed a 2% lower bill than npower’s Standard cash/cheque bills until 31st March 2011. The guarantee applies to customers with average gas consumption of 20,500 kWh and average electricity consumption of 3,300 kWh, and includes the monthly dual fuel direct debit discount.

Does this mean that if you use more, or less, than 20,500kWk gas/3,300 electric the guarantee doesn't apply and you can be charged the standard rate;)

The exit fee of £40 is modest and understandable. Presumably it is to stop the 'Tarts' multiple switching throughout the year for cashback.

Plushchris

notbritishgas wrote: »

Tempted by this as I could apparently save £77 by switching from my SoL10 tariff (if allowed for existing customers).
But looking further I can see a catch. If I enter my current tariff as npower Standard into Energyhelpline it gives a current spend of £1088 and a new spend on SoL17 of £817 with a saving of £271. This is a saving of 25%.
The terms of SoL17 only Guarantee a saving over the standard tariff of 2% until March 2011. This means at any time between now and then they could increase the tariff as long as they do not go above the 2% saving. I guess this could happen as soon as they have snared enough people in.
Am I correct in my reasoning, but I am certain that npower at the kings of underhand tactics.

You are spot on with your reasoning, a lot of the "tracker" tariffs around at the moment are the same, guaranteeing to be X% lower but at the moment are much lower

Edit: Cardew beat me to it

Plushchris

Cardew wrote: »

Does this mean that if you use more, or less, than 20,500kWk gas/3,300 electric the guarantee doesn't apply and you can be charged the standard rate;)

I'm certainly not going to be the one to find out! :eek:

What a rubbish clause (although to be expected from Npower)

Cardew

Does this mean that if you use more, or less, than 20,500kWk gas/3,300 electric the guarantee doesn't apply and you can be charged the standard rate;)

Plushchris wrote: »

I'm certainly not going to be the one to find out! :eek:

What a rubbish clause (although to be expected from Npower)

Sorry sir, you have used 20,501kWh gas and 3,299 kWh electricity so you lose all your discounts and we will add a levy of 5% on your prices!!;)

Come to think of it they don't specify 20,500kWk gas/3,300 electric as the average annual consumption. Now given Npower's interpretation of a 'Tariff Year' that is worrying!!

Premier_2

If you don't use the average usage as stated, you won't get exactly the £349 saving advertised.

http://www.npower.com/web/At_home/Popup/saveterms/index.htm

Mind you, the stated "Saving is averaged nationally and will vary be area" anyway.