N Power questions

Jamopy

I was just looking at the energyhelpline price comparison site and it recommended for cheapest electricity i should go for the Go Fix 2 N Power tariff. However when i looked closer at the info this section stood out to me:

npower tariffs can include a large discount paid at the end of each year - anything from £21 to £105 a year. Therefore over the year you will save the money quoted, however, if you leave during the year you will lose the discount and some of your savings. npower now offer the option of managing your account online, with online billing and the ability to submit a meter reading and pay your bill online. Once you have become a customer you can sign up for this, if you want.

Since i'm only intending to be in my current flat for another 11 months at most, does that mean that the savings that it is quoting me aren't accurate (since i will probably leave before a year has passed)?

Also, N Power looks to have a very poor customer service rating, can any customers cast some light on this?

Thanks

xbrenx

I believe with most of the energy providers you'll be in contract with them for at least 12 months, so just be wary of that.
It does appear that prices quoted will be wrong if you leave but that's the point, the company wants you for the whole year. Can't say about customer service as I've never been a customer, sorry. Perhaps you could try a search on the forum for NPower?

Hope you get it sorted

anniecave

Npower in my experience are no better or worse than others. Some of their tariffs do include a high annual discount though. Atlantic electricity do an annual rebate which is a similar idea.

have a look at the actual tariff. What are the actual unit rates? And how much are the annual discounts?

If you intend to be there less than a year, you need to have some rough figures for how much you are likely to use during the part of the year you will be there. Bear in mind you will use most of your heating costs during October to March. The EDF read reduce reward website does an estimate of your current kwh figures if you put in your property details.

So for whatever supplier and tariff you are considering, look what the figures will be without any annual discounts, for the period you will actually be on the tariff for. It takes a couple of months to change supplier, so bear this in mind too.

Have fun trying to work it out!

If you can't be bothered with the above, just use the "no details handy" options on uswitch instead of your kwh or annual consumption figures and then look at the best tariffs and deduct any annual discounts (by going into the tariff details) and go from there!

Hazzanet

I found the NPower experience to be rather negative; they made up a starting reading which my previous gas supplier disputed, then agreed on a starting reading between themselves butI hadn't actually used that much fuel. This was even after calling them on the transfer date and giving them a correct up to date reading. I also informed Lowri Beck who called to read the meter and reconfirmed the correct reading.

Trying to get the meter reading corrected from the ridiculous estimate was met with a "computer says no" attitude and my final bill from the previous supplier was four times what it should have been. Only when I threatened to get Ofgem involved, did the problem actually get sorted out by NPower.

I'm sure this is like Alliance & Leicester - there are many threads on the board slating their service, and while A&L aren't fabulous, I've never had any major problems with them. There are people who haver good experiences and bad experiences. Sadly, mine with NPower wasn't that good.

KimYeovil

Yes, you'll pay an extra £8.75 per month rather than a twelfth of the quoted price plus you will not get this back if you move early. Don't forget to look at the prices of many of the top offers on the comparison sites - you will probably find the best other quotes only differ from nPower's cost by only pennies or a pound or three. Scottish Power's best tariff may be better as the savings are mainly built into the unit prices rather than large discounts.

Domestic suppliers do not tie you in to twelve month contracts - but they may have leaving charges where you leave early (but these do not apply if you are moving home.)

(Don't forget that in addition you can receive much higher cashbacks from a cashback site than from energyhelpline or other comparison sites. (currently £80 and £100 from nPower and Scottish Power rather than £30 from energyhelpline.))

nPower

Hi Jamopy

Just to let you know, if you switch to npower now and move house after 11 months, as long as you let us know when you intend to move and switch to npower in your new house, you won't lose your annual discount as it'll be carried over.

Let me know if you need anything else clearing up.

Kind Regards
Sally

undaunted

As "Sally" seems to have over looked responding to your point on their customer service I would suggest that if customer service is as important as price in your desired criteria you should find someone else!

Npowers idea of customer service is seriously questionable in my opinion - and has in fact been criticised by Ofgem & Consumer Focus, Which and Uswitch customers as being historically the worst in the market!

http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/energy-help-and-advice/energy-supplier-performance/historical-supplier-performance

(Which & Uswitch links can be found here too)

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/SocAction/Publications/Documents1/Debt%20and%20disconnection%20best%20practice%20review.pdf