Npower switch saving me £95 a month on gas alone!!

RedPing1977

I'm really confused / angry about this but also OBVIOUSLY delighted with the saving! :T

I got home from work one day last week & my wife informed me that Npower was on our street looking to switch people over to their services. I'd been meaning to look into switching for a while but only ever got round to looking at a few of the online services, Uswitch etc. None of which seemed to be showing up a huge saving.

My previous monthly derect debit to British Gas was £70 for electric & £135 for gas. :eek:
Imagine my total amazement when they did their calculations & confirmed that whilst me electric consumption seemed to correct & would not change they could lower my gas from £135 to £40 a month!!
Needless to say I've signed up.

Now, what's bugging me is how can British Gas have charged me £135 per month for all this time when Npower have priced me (based on consumption) at £40 a month for the same product?
Is there any way I can challenge BG on their price over the past year or so or should I just be happy with the new saving?

Premier_2

Why not use the comparison sites in the resource bar above to see the best possible deal you could secure from the whole of market, rather than just the supplier the saleman was being paid by to flog their product?
If the savings are not shown on the comparison sites, they are not available.

Different suppliers charge different amounts, just like if you go to Asda some products are more than Tesco charge and some are less. It's the consumers decision on how they wish to spend their money.

Andy_WSM

RedPing1977 wrote: »

Now, what's bugging me is how can British Gas have charged me £135 per month for all this time when Npower have priced me (based on consumption) at £40 a month for the same product?
Is there any way I can challenge BG on their price over the past year or so or should I just be happy with the new saving?

If you have been paying BG £135 a month and not used £1620 of gas in a year then you should be in credit with them and due a refund - However, you say "priced me" as though the £40 a month Npower are now collecting is a fixed price quote? You DO understand that if you use more than £480 of gas in the next year you will owe them the extra money?

I'd feel more inclined to work out why the huge difference in payments than celebrate any "saving" - check through your old bills, check the meter reading now matches up with the latest bill - if it does, then your DD was right. If the meter hasn't yet reached what your bill says, by a long way, then you may be due some money back.

penrhyn

I strongly suspect that the OP has been scammed by a doorstep snake oil salesman.
Please do what premier suggests and use one of the comparison sites, and use actual consumption figures.

deanos

penrhyn wrote: »

I strongly suspect that the OP has been scammed by a doorstep snake oil salesman.
Please do what premier suggests and use one of the comparison sites, and use actual consumption figures.

I agree .

synapse321

N power use "Gas Sculpting" charging higher gas units in winter. They are also one of the more devious suppliers currently being investigated for overcharging customers in 2007. Need I say more??

duggo1

Why do people believe what these door to door conmen tell them.
Please check your actual consumption for the past year in Kwh and put this info into a comparison site.

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is....

sez38

I've just had my 1st fuel bill since switching to NPOWER. While the electric seems ok the gas bill seems to be over 3 times higher than it should be! I worked it out using my readings & SWALEC's rates & it came to £65. NPOWER have charged me £277!!! I'm waiting for a reply off them & if this bill is right I'm changing back to Swalec asap.

Premier_2

sez38 wrote: »

I've just had my 1st fuel bill since switching to NPOWER. While the electric seems ok the gas bill seems to be over 3 times higher than it should be! I worked it out using my readings & SWALEC's rates & it came to £65. NPOWER have charged me £277!!! I'm waiting for a reply off them & if this bill is right I'm changing back to Swalec asap.

When a gas bill is about 3x different to that expected, the thing to check is whether it has been correctly billed on an imperial or metric basis:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

sez38

Thanks for the link Premier! I've checked it out and yes they're charging me 3 times too much as they think I have a metric meter when I have an imperial cubic ft meter. Makes you think though - how many others have been overcharged who won't have checked their bills? Scary!

Wickedkitten

RedPing1977 wrote: »

I'm really confused / angry about this but also OBVIOUSLY delighted with the saving! :T

I got home from work one day last week & my wife informed me that Npower was on our street looking to switch people over to their services. I'd been meaning to look into switching for a while but only ever got round to looking at a few of the online services, Uswitch etc. None of which seemed to be showing up a huge saving.

My previous monthly derect debit to British Gas was £70 for electric & £135 for gas. :eek:
Imagine my total amazement when they did their calculations & confirmed that whilst me electric consumption seemed to correct & would not change they could lower my gas from £135 to £40 a month!!
Needless to say I've signed up.

Now, what's bugging me is how can British Gas have charged me £135 per month for all this time when Npower have priced me (based on consumption) at £40 a month for the same product?
Is there any way I can challenge BG on their price over the past year or so or should I just be happy with the new saving?

They didn't tell you that you would be using £40 worth of gas a month, they told you they could lower your direct debit to £40 a month. Obviously that could come back to bite you in the !!!! if you were actually using £135 quids worth of gas and they have set your direct debit low to tempt you into switching.