Npower

Meggie

Hi, I've just used USwitch and they tell me that NPower Sign Online Dual Fuel is the best option for us to save money as we are a first time switcher and have been with our original suppliers British Gas and Southern Electricity forever! However, I've seen some comments about NPower in the forum that really worry me and I'm scared that if we make the change it might be the start of problems. Also it doesn't look as if NPower has raised its prices recently, so perhaps they are about to soon? Would be really grateful for comments from anyone with more experience with this. Thanks!

Froglet

Hi Meggie and welcome to the site.I have not been here long but it is the best site for advice i have ever found! I am not with Npower,as Atlantic worked out just slightly better for me,but my mum is and she has had no problems at all both during and after switching.Even with a recent rise she is still quite happy with what she pays compared to before.

savingforoz

Same goes for me - I've switched, made good monthly savings and no problems so far, although it's still early days.

JennyB

Welcome Meggie

Just a reminder that if you go to Martin's article here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103281560,22751,

and follow the link to the energyhelpline website then you can get £15 cashback for switching supplier. Also the calculations bring up slightly different results as the two different sites and you may find that energyhelpline suggest a different company which would solve the problem you have with being concerned about npower.

TMFTP

One problem with nPower - assuming you're getting the £60 credit for dual fuel, monthly DD, etc - is their way of recalculating your payments.

You will get through the year with your monthly bills planning to end up at zero in debt. This will be worked out on the basis that they will pay you £60.

However, they will work out your next years payments BEFORE paying you the £60. This means they'll put your bill up by approx £150 a year - to cover the £60 you "owe" them, and the £60 shortfall they anticipate the following year.

Another problem is that call centre calls are never answered without a 5+ min wait. When / if you do get through, it's a bit like the advert - "it doesn't work like that." Apparently, it's ridiculous to suggest they amend their process to wait until the year is up to recalculate your payments...

I've reverted to the "stop the direct debit and wait for them to contact me" method...it's cheaper.

Angry_of_Cambridge

Funny thing that calculation,
Npower wanted to up my electric payment from £42.50 to £64.00 because i was 72p in debit after the winter for my electricity!!!
What they omitted to tell me that because i am energy efficient that they owed ME a whopping £174.02 for my gas,:mad: this was because they had never actually taken a correct reading since my initial reading a year ago, and ran with their wildly incorrect estimates.
Needless to say i have moved my business elsewhere....to PowerGen in fact.
I am still awaiting a response to my letter of complaint about their misuse of MY money and a request for compensation for the wasted time on their 08457 customer rip off line.

Also on their 08457 number....i have always had to wait at least 15 mins to get an answer, usually more like 20 mins....i wonder how much they made out of me that way....

I think anyone who is still with Npower and has not had problems is rather lucky, i for one would never go back to them!

humfer

Switched to npower a couple of months ago and am starting to have problems with their customer service just over simple things like them failing to take a DD payment, or them switching me from sign online to standard, or them sending me the wrong price increase information when prices went up....:mad: :mad: However they are cheaper so I don't mind putting up with a certain amount of problems.