stuck with npower

ramgoat

Please could someone help me. I switched to Npower about 3 years ago, my bill was orginally £70 a month now I am paying £150 per month. I did get a little behind when I lost my job but I now feel I can't get this down. My next door neighbour whose family is the same size as mine, his bill is £68 per month.
I live in a 3 bedroom terraced house. I switch everything off at night and my wife does the same in the morning before she leaves for work. We both work 5 days a week and the children are at school so no-one is in the house all day. We haven't put the heating on yet as i can't, being really tight with it and yet it is still high. I have asked for someone to come round to check my meter but they say no to this. Could anyone give me some adivce as I dont think I can change as I am in debt to them.

dogshome

Hi ramgoat - As I think you have realised, your original £70 D/D a month was not enough to pay for the amount you use, so n'powers demand for £150 covers the cost of what they think you actually use, PLUS something to pay off the debt.

Your neighbors bills are irrelavant, it might be the same size house, but lifestyles are different and so are levels of insulation
I'm afraid it's up to you to do the homework to understand and take control of the situation.

That last bill may well show how much Gas/Elec you used over the last 12 months, if doesn't phone n'power and ask
When you have the figures, apply them to the tariff charges on the the last bill and work out what you are spending a year, then divide by 12 to see what your D/D level should be - Armed with these figures you can see just how much 'Debt Repayment' n'power are adding to your D/D payments, and how long it will take to pay it off.

It's important you do this as Utility Suppliers can sometimes 'forget' to reduce the D/D level when the debt has been paid off

mobby-2554

We were in the same boat paying £150 to Npower then they wanted £223.
My son who now lives in our road exactly the same style 4 bedroom house pays £120.
We switched yesterday it'll now be about £120

I've just put this on.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2886794

Going through energyline they could of got our bill down £200 with Npower but we went with EDF reducing our bill by £400 per year.

davecampbell

Hi,
I was with npower a few years ago when they suddenly upped my dd by 50%. When I investigated I found that they had estimated my gas consumption to a silly level. I rang them with the correct reading and they agreed to reduce the dd back the the old rate, but this went wrong after month, so I lost patience with them and switched.

Dave

undaunted

How much do you owe them?

Standard License condition 14.6 of the Electricty act said "The licensee shall ensure that outstanding charges of amounts equal to or less than £200 are capable of being assigned by the licensee to a new electricity supplier in accordance with the protocol" (ie can you find a supplier who would agree to take over the debt?)


Schedule 7 of the act may help you in terms of getting the meter examined.

I'm not sure what your circumstances are but could you qualify for any of their social type tarrifs (see first step etc on their website)

Try your CAB if Npower continue tro be obstructive, they are in my opinion just that kind of company I'm afraid!

Good luck