npower - different tarrifs - Is it a con?

whaler

If you switch to powergen through quidco they`ll pay you £50 cashback for dual fuel ! they are one of the cheapest as well !

Rhino666

I signed up with NPower around 3 - 4 months ago and have just had my first bills. The rates charged are far higher that those in my online agreement. When I first joined them, the rates were confusing, so I emailed their customer services and got a detailed response with the prices confirmed.

In addition to the higher prices all round, Npower also seem to have changed my electricity bill to some sort of economy seven rating, as there is a third band for low night rate use. Npowers gas prices are supposed to have fallen on 30th April by 18% but my bill for a few days of this period shows an increase.

I have sent them an email and look forward to their reply but on the face of it they are a manipulative ripoff with all masked changed to prices working in their favour. Strangely enough I expect that price increases when the wholesale price was on the up came through instantly.

It seems likely that I will be changing supplier again, reporting them to offgem and generally getting my pound of flesh. A transfer through quidco should get me back the equivalent share of their annual rebate

Hopefully other people are keeping tabs on this sort of sharp practice and voting with their feet - these companies need to realise that we are not all lazy idiots !

charis18uk

I am in the process of switching to Npower. I went through moneysupermarket.com as a comparison site.

I got a letter from them saying I didn't qualify for the offer I had signed up for as my gas is partially supplied by an independent transit company!!!!! Apparently this is very common on new housing estates (or so the letter said). For this reason my gas has to be more expensive!!!

Well all I can say is I'm going along with the switch until I get my signup bonus from https://www.moneysupermarket.com, ten its off to quidco to sign up for powergen!!!

whaler

Just had my latest bill from npower along with an annual assessment of my direct debit, can you believe that although prices have been tumbling recently and I`m carrying forward a £6.50 credit ,npower advise I should up my payments from £56. to £65 per month !
Goodbye npower !

wills34

you were on SOL 7 which has now become after their recent price changes their standard rates so you are now not on a sign online tariff they have just put you on standard. If they can't give you SOL 6 tariff then leave, or just leave!

spanner82

we are with npower - swopped from BG as on USwitcht hey seemedc heaper - within a few days they put up their prices - we are now paying nearly £60 gas on a 1 bed flat don't use heating at all in summer and cook elec

mystery07

charis18uk wrote: »

I am in the process of switching to Npower. I went through moneysupermarket.com as a comparison site.

I got a letter from them saying I didn't qualify for the offer I had signed up for as my gas is partially supplied by an independent transit company!!!!! Apparently this is very common on new housing estates (or so the letter said). For this reason my gas has to be more expensive!!!

Well all I can say is I'm going along with the switch until I get my signup bonus from https://www.moneysupermarket.com, ten its off to quidco to sign up for powergen!!!

Ive done this & got the exact same results. No one ive spoken too has ever heard of this! So Im a bit sceptical. Plus, moneysupermarket can take up to 6 months to pay there £30, if you get it at all. Looking at where it ranks in Martin's list, I wouldnt be surprised if there are issues surrounding it.

Does anyone know any more about this independant transit company stuff????

MarkyMarkD

They are not making up the IGT stuff. Read about it here: http://energylinx.co.uk/independent_gas_transporters.htm

wills34

powergen charge more than npower for the igt so be careful powergen charge £40 npower charge £30 scot power charge £40 and EDF used to charge for single fuel gas only customers. BG and southern don't charge full stop. For those interested google the energywatch IGT report of last year

Rhino666

Further to my previous post, I waited 5 days for a reply from Npower and when it didn't come emailed their chief executive - Andy Duff.

Had a phone call this morning from a lady from the executive complaints team. She defended all my complaint points vigorously......

price rises that I was not informed occured before I oficially joined them, since my custom didn't start until February - strange when I applied to them in early November, electricity started on 1st January and all publicity has been about falls in prices, not rises.

Economy 7 split and higher tariff on electricity because I have a split meter reading. All the other suppliers I have used specifiically ask if you want the economy 7 tariff because it only works out cheaper if you have economy 7 storage heaters - I don't so guess what, it works out to be dearer. Also their original agreement did not show this tariff - just standard SOL 7 tariff.

Npower staff confirming my gas & elec rates incorrectly by email - off course this was incorrect and the staff will be retrained - I have heard this before once or twice :-)

Anyway she was a nice lady and I allowed myself to absorb the excuses, however believable. My bills will be reduced to the level indicated by the agreed pricing and my new prices will be outlined to give me a choice of staying with Npower or leaving.

I did point out that all I require and indeed all any customer requires is simple communication of the pricing - nothing more. Any feeling that I am being manipulated/ripped off will result in a characteristic fight back :-)

If the lady does keep to her word and I really hope she does, I will report back to the forum and stay with Npower. If however Npower do not entirely satisfy me and this is what I am expecting, I will publish Mr Duffs various emails for others to use, report Npower to offgem and move away immediately.

It's a good job that I currently have the time and energy to indulge myself with being a cranky old sod at the moment :-)