nPower bill

Pugsymalone

I've just received my nPower bill today for the last 3 months. We have electricity and gas with them. The electricity is fine and what we expects. The gas has been estimated at 29 kwh, which totals £72.08 plus VAT. I've done a meter reading which actually puts it at about 169 kwh and, by out calculations, this means that we are at about £430 for 3 months, which is just ridiculous.

My partner's parents have used just over 7000 kwh for the same period and are paying under £200 for this.

Is it me, or does this seem a large amount to be paying for not a lot of gas use. Can anyone recommend anything I can do (apart from switching which we will now be doing!) do try and get the bill reduced?

KimYeovil

You have to sort out the difference between meter units and kWhs. One gas meter unit is 11.2 kWh (on a metric meter) and 32 kWhs (on an imperial meter). The unit prices in the tariffs is per kWh.

169 meter units is 5408 (approx) kWhs - say £170 plus £45 x 3 standing charge - a bit more than £300. The standing charges are higher in winter on some tariffs as nPower have are weighted seasonally. It balances out over a year.

beecher2

I don't think that can be correct - are you sure you're not getting units and kWh mixed up?

If I look at part of my bill, it says I've used 22 units which converts to 706 kWh, which costs £17.53 as I'm charged at 2.483p per kWh. This is with Scottish Power, but there's no way you're being charged 10p per kWh so something isn't right.

Maybe post the full details of what it says on the estimated bill.

Premier_2

All sorts of possible confusion here.

1. The gas meter does not record kWh.

2. If the meter has been estimated as having consumed 29 units costing £72.08 + Vat, the supplier appears to have presumed you have an imperial meter which records usage in 100's of cubic feet. Check you do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml
A metric meter would record usage in cubic metres.

3. Contact your supplier and provide them with the actual meter reading to replace the estimation they have made. Usually they will re-bill you if done within a reasonable time.

Pugsymalone

sorry - I meant estimated 29 units converting to 912 kwh. We've actually used 169 units, converting to about 5340 kwh;

c0rneL

I wont say that N power is cheap(depending on your tariff - I am sure you can get a better deal elsewhere).
you said taht you have to pay £72 for 29 cubic meters, and you have extrapolated to over £400 for 169 cubic meters. but the fact is that the first 4572kwh are charged at much higher rate than the rest.
so I believe that for 169cubic meters you wont be charged no where near £400 (is more likely around £150, £180.
always, and especially during winter the first units are 3-4 times more expensive than the rest of the units.

by all means -- change the supplier, there are lots of good tariffs out there (I have recenlty changed from npower to scotish power -- trough top cash back - and not only I have cheaper energy but I received £110 cash back!!!)

Sandrock

Pugsymalone wrote: »

sorry - I meant estimated 29 units converting to 912 kwh. We've actually used 169 units, converting to about 5340 kwh;

Depending on what tarrif you are on with NPower, 5340 Kwh should be about £180 plus standing charge. For 3 months this doesn't seem excessive, bearing in mind the cold snap we've had recently.

Premier_2

Pugsymalone wrote: »

sorry - I meant estimated 29 units converting to 912 kwh. We've actually used 169 units, converting to about 5340 kwh;

You appear to have taken the cost of the units charged, tried to divi that up based on the amount of kWh the charge was based on and then multiplied that by the higher kWh actually consumed.

That won't work because the tariff with either involve a daily standing charge (that stays the same) or a number of higher rate tier 1 units. (that do not increase in proportion to the kWh used)
It may also include some discounts that don't vary with consumption levels.

As previous poster says, 5340kWh would not cost anywhere near £420, but probably less than £200 when calculated correctly.