Wrong percentage increases advise

cary8

I am with npower on their Online 18 plan. I have received a letter which in effect put the prices up by 19%!!!!!

When I challenged them on this they told me that the increases where only 9%. After a heated discussion they then said that it was a 12% increase. After an exchange of e-mails and spreadsheets they now say that the increase is 15%. They are however still wrong They have also told me that going onto their Online 20 will be cheaper when my figures show that it would be more expensive.

I am not bothered about myself as I can do the maths and figure it out for myself but there are a lot of people out there who can't and are obviously being given false information on which to make their decisions.

Does anyone know who to report this to as I feel quite strongly about it

Premier_2

cary8 wrote: »

I am with npower on their Online 18 plan. I have received a letter which in effect put the prices up by 19%!!!!!

When I challenged them on this they told me that the increases where only 9%. After a heated discussion they then said that it was a 12% increase. After an exchange of e-mails and spreadsheets they now say that the increase is 15%. They are however still wrong They have also told me that going onto their Online 20 will be cheaper when my figures show that it would be more expensive.

I am not bothered about myself as I can do the maths and figure it out for myself but there are a lot of people out there who can't and are obviously being given false information on which to make their decisions.

Does anyone know who to report this to as I feel quite strongly about it

Who do you want to report it to???

Any percentages are averages. You will be given details of the new tariff applicable to you. That's what they should bill you on. If they haven't done that, go back to the supplier.

fergie_

I agree with Cary.

I too am on Npower sign online 18. I just opened my letter and put the figures into my spreadsheet where I calculate usage and actual cost. If my figures stay the same Gas will change from £350 to £367 a year and Electric will go from £365 to £465 :eek: Thats excluding standing charges which are roughly the same at £221.

All excluding VAT btw.

Real term bill increase of 13%, but the real scary bit is the cost of electric has gone up 21.7% per unit and gas 4.6% per unit :mad:

npower.com/Home/Price-change/Price-announcement/index.htm

"As a result, we have to increase our prices. From 4 January 2011 our standard gas and electricity prices are going up by an average of 5.1%."

I think that in lies the problem. Npower told the press prices were going up on average 5% - but obviously not Online tarrifs!

Other problem I have is the actual letter - It says you will find FULL details of the new prices on the back of this letter. They should be made to list the old prices and % increase too...

gavin.woodbutcher

I too have now got my new tarrif for sign online18, taking into account both unit price and daily charge on electricity only (no gas here in rural norfolk) my annual bill is going up 15%. So much for a 5.1% increase in prices.

Cardew

They normally 'qualify' their percentages by stating the average applies to the UK average consumption of 20,500kWh pa gas and 3,300kWh electricity.

Obviously if they increase the primary(tier1) rates by more than the quoted percentage, the below average user pays more and the high user less. Increase tier2 rates by more than the quoted percentage and the opposite applies.

Did they not do the same this time?

cp7

hi, i'm furious with npower also. i was on online 16 in april this year and the standing charge for gas was 15p daily. when a new tariff comes along i phone them and ask if i would be better on it so that's what happened and i was trf to online 18.

they never said what the tariff was but as it was cheaper i accepted. my last bill was in apr as i moved home and my next bill wasn't until mid dec (due now) so i've never seen any bills, which i also feel is so wrong. got letter yesterday saying my daily standing charge come january was to be 46p!!!!! apparently its 30p just now although i thought about 15p so my bill will be high even though i've not used much over the summer but its minus degrees everyday here where i live at the moment.

this is a pure and utter con and i'm livid. i was told when i called they would charge me 20 per fuel fee to move as i have to accept contract was for 12 months on this online 18 tariff. i was never ever made aware of this when i called before.

i spoke to a manager who has since waived the fee and is now saying she will put me on the online 20 tariff with no standing charge. my electric also has to move to this???

anyway i'm not convinced this is not another con. the standard unit price will be higher and now its winter i'll use loads. i can't win and although i have moved suppliers in the past i feel they are all at it.

why have dozens of different tariffs? it should be illegal and i feel so sorry for vulnerable people. nowhere in their letters or website or even the media was this increase highlighted. 5% increase? what an absolute joke and something should be done about this practice:eek:

thanks for reading the rant

davidgmmafan

I can see why people are annoyed about this, however they have to express it in some kind of easy to understand way. Otherwise the press release would take about two hours.

The price rise is X for prepayment, X for sol version a, b ,c etc etc etc.

Some progress IS being made they are giving advance notice and are giving the prices going forward in the letters (two things which I see people complaining about in the past when they didn't happen).

I'm guessing they don't want to lose loads of customers, but they may have been selling at a loss on certian versions of SOL.

better_in_my_pocket

Yes this is extremely frustrating, i am on dual fuel sign online 18 my gas has increased by nearly 20% yet my electricity has remained the same.

Why all the differences across the country!

A 20% increase! did i mention that:eek:

Following 50 minute converstaion where npower eventually agreed with my maths! they suggested a change to the sign online 20 as well. I get the feeling they are trying to push people to this as at the current time there is no increase.

No increase planned! You are tied into a 12 month contract and what is to say in 3 months time they will hike the price significantly above the taffif i am on! I suggested that if i sign a contract for 12 months and they change the price then this breaks the contract and i am in my rights to change the product with no fee... you will not be surprised to hear the response was negative! they are allowed to change the prices.

So here is the dilema, change and hope to not get screwed over by a later rise or stick?

Any thoughts welcome.

syandi

I too have calculated my increase on the SOL 18 to be a whopping 26% on electricity only and contrary to another post I am a higher user than most, so it doesnt follow that higher users get it cheaper at all.
I cannot see how the average rise is only 5.1%....has anyones bill gone up by such a small amount?

It doesnt really matter what form you put it in...Kwh's, units, £s' or %'s it's still a massive amount over the publicised increase. Just for info my old unit price was 6.95p increased to 8.68p and the old standing charge 20.8p per day increased to 27.0p per day.

loofer

I have my own excel sheet with formula to compare potential bill against actuall usage. I use unit prices and standing charge. Im on SignOnline17 and can confirm that my Gas/Elec have gone up by 10% and 11%.

Signonline20 works out about the same as pre-price rise for me. They have done away with standing charge but I also notice their Gas Tier 1 limit is significantly different to other companies. Its 4572 KWh per annum where as most are 2680 KWh

fergie_

I did an online quote for my annual usage and surprise surprise Eon (the only supplier not to show its hand yet) came out cheapest at about a £50 'saving' - except its not a saving in real terms as its still going to cost me more this coming year than last year. When I factor in cancellation charges (I was told when I changed tarrif) the best option will most likely be the online20.

My standing charges are exactly the same - what has changed are the unit prices. Here are some calculations:

Standing charge 365 x 15.54 = £56.72 Standing charge 365 x 15.54 = £56.72
2000kwh x 10.30p = £206 2000kwh x 8.0745p = £161.49
Total = 262.72 Total = 218.21 17% increase

Standing charge 365 x 15.54 = £56.72 Standing charge 365 x 15.54 = £56.72
4000kwh x 10.30p = £412 4000kwh x 8.0745p = £322.98
Total = 468.72 Total = 379.70 19% increase

So in other words the more electricity you use, the bigger the increase!