Having a Major Issue with NPower

Steve_CM

I switched to NPower in Nov 08 on one of the price comparison sites. I was told it was a capped agreement and that my direct debits would be £88.00 approx a month. i paid by direct debit for 12 months with no problem. I then recieved a letter to say my revised quote was around £220 a month from then on.

I tried to switch again to scottish power. Npower wouldn't let me switch as £500 was outstanding still on my account.

I contacted NPower and said i will not be paying as the agreement was a capped agreement. They disputed this and said i was on a different tarriff. I never would of switched to them if i would of known this. anyways i asked what tarriff i was on and they told me something or other (don't know the name of it) but with one phone call they dropped it from £220 a month to £150. i then said i have seen the same usage i use for around £1000 a year. they said it was a different tarriff. I said i would like to be placed on that. The service advisor reluctentely agreed and placed me on it. So the agreement they have placed me on is the same as they agreed to in Nov 08. I then proceeded to say how disgusting it is that they can just drop the price like they have with a 3 minute conversation and that basically they are conning people. The service advisor said...thats business!!!

Anyways now i have had a baliff round to my house for £1220 !!!!!!!!!

I don't know how they come up with these figures and i don't know where to turn....Please can somebody help me here?

Regards
Steve

Premier_2

The capped tariff refers to a cap on the unit charge, not the cap on how much you pay; that is goverened by how much you use!

Bailiffs fees are horrendous. e.g. over £100 each time they visit. I could easily imagine how their fees could easily amount to about £500 -£1000 alone as the matter has clearly gone that far.

Steve_CM

there were no baliff charges on that! that was an oustanding bill amount from the £500 plus extra for the recent months

The usage i have used was capped and at the price agreed. They have moved me onto a different tarriff

I don't have a copy of my original sign up from Nov 08

JasX

There are no such thing as price capped energy bills, they are the stuff of cloud cuckoo land.

you were paying £88 by direct debit towards how much Gas + Electricity npower thought you were going to use on your 'price per unit' capped tariff, if you used more than £88 per month worth you will own npower money.

(hence you'll pay a bit more per month for a few months while you repay the overrun, before your DD comes down again)

if you owed them money, haven;t paid and they've had to call in baliffs and collection agencies you'll have incurred extra fees and trashed your credit rating too

everything npower has done seems quite normal.

do you have copies of your bills and do they match up to your readings?

if you really want one npower should have a copy of your original signed agereement

Cardew

Steve_CM wrote: »

there were no baliff charges on that! that was an oustanding bill amount from the £500 plus extra for the recent months

The usage i have used was capped and at the price agreed. They have moved me onto a different tarriff

I don't have a copy of my original sign up from Nov 08

Do you believe you were on the Staywarm tariff?

That is an annual agreement and they revise it after a year.

Steve_CM

my price has been capped this year for the usage i'm on and thats there words not mine.

i will delv into this further but the fact is they have dropped my tarriff prices this year by more than 100% leads me to think i'm correct, Actually i know i'm correct. When i originally signed up in 2008 i went by my units from the year before. Unless I've had a lodger in my garage for 12 months i wouldn't of used anymore. And even if i did it wouldn't be 50% more

Cardew

I think you are getting a little confused about tariffs on offer.

The only tariff(that I am aware of) that allows 'unlimited' use of gas and electricity is Staywarm and that is from E-ON.

Many tariffs are fixed or capped and that means the price per kWh remains the same. However if you use more gas and electricity - you pay more.

It seems you are mixing up the price per kWh with the size of your monthly direct debit.

As explained above, if you pay £100 a month for a year you have(obviously) paid £1,200. If you have used, say, gas and electricity costing £1,500 you will be £300 in debt.

So for the following year you will have to pay £1,800(£1,500 + £300) so your DD will be £150 a month.

JasX

Steve_CM wrote: »

i wouldn't of used anymore. And even if i did it wouldn't be 50% more

you will need to check your meter readings, unfortunately utility companies construct bills based on your actual metered useage of electricity and gas rather than notions that you "wouldn't of used anymore [sic]"

do your meter readings match up with any estimated bills you may have had?

perhaps you left the iron on?

HomoPete

Stop being tight and pay them their money, they got shareholders to keep happy.

SwanJon

Steve_CM wrote: »

my price has been capped this year for the usage i'm on and thats there words not mine.

And if your usage changes?

Steve_CM wrote: »

they have dropped my tarriff prices this year by more than 100% leads me to think i'm correct, Actually i know i'm correct.

If they dropped your tariff prices by more than 100% they would be paying you to use gas & electricity - 100% is the whole amount.

Look at the bills you have - how much does it say you are being charhers per kWH (not the DD) (I know I'm repeating other posters, but it is that simple)