Npower - Settlement Quarter?

stressedoutmumof1

I have just received my electricity bill from npower stating it is a settlement quarter. I currently pay £51 per month on their monthly budget plan - so obviously I have already budgeted for this month - now they want an extra £73.12 which they state they are taking out of my bank next week. Can they do this - I know I have used the electricity, but having not long had a recent monthly increase, this will more than cover the £73 over the next quarter. Also apparently my years sign online discount (£60) will go on the next quarter's bill - I missed this bill by 3 days :mad:

I really can't afford another £73 this month - any opinions gratefully received.

alwaysonthego_2

I think they can take the money out of your account if they have given you wreitten notice. Why not give them a call and explain your circumstances

anniecave

if you call them up and ask them to carry it forward (as you will be receiving the discount soon) and not take the value from your account, then they should be willing and able to do this

zoologygeek

I just got up this morning to the same letter. I already pay £37 a month & the letter informed me they are putting the payments upto £42.50 in december & I owe them £106 which they are taking out of my a/c on the 13th of december. I rang to query it & spoke to the most snooty mare who wouldnt listen to what I was telling her & kept informing me I'd already been fully informed of the settlement bill arrangement. She did offer to up my payments to £52 for the next 10 months to cover the oustanding bill. Seriously!!.... the result being me throwing my toys out of the pram & telling her to cancel my direct debit (thus loosing the £60 bonus I would have received in February for have a duel fuel direct debit) and now I'll spend the next couple of hours looking for a new supplier. GRRRRRRR bloody electric suppliers

magyar

Hang on a minute, zoologygeek; whilst it's annoying to receive a bill for £106 , did you use the electricity? If so, then clearly you need to pay for it.

If they're offering to let you pay this over ten months then what exactly have npower done wrong?

Cardew

Zoologygeek,
Unless I have misunderstood something, I must say I am with magyar on this.

You haven't said you disagree about owing £106? You clearly feel it is wrong to be expected to pay all of it back in one installment, and equally clearly you don't want to pay it back over the next year with increased monthly payments.

So can you say what you expect NPower to do about the debt?

TMFTP

The debt is as a direct result of the way the companies have chosen to do business.

THEY chose to set up a process whereby customers enter an agreement on the basis of historical usage and existing prices.

THEY must therefore accept the consequences of that process. Which is that prices (or usage) may go up, and that people will be unable (or unwilling) to pay in a one-off installment.

It's called "taking responsibility". Stressedoutmum's not trying to get out of the payment. The company are being utterly unreasonable. The existing raise and the bonus will more than cover the deficit. So what's their problem?

Their problem is "they don't work like that." Just like the Nationwide advert. Thet "don't take the bonus into account when working out bills." Why not? "It doesn't work like that." Why not? "Err...it just doesn't."

Not exactly helpful, are they?

The companies vastly - and I mean HUGELY - reduce their costs if people deal with them using DD. More than enough to offset the interest lost in having an extra £10 a month for 6 months.

magyar

TMFTP; no-one (well, not me, anyway) was disagreeing with Stressedoutmum. Of course people can't be expected to come up with an extra £70 in one month. My point above was in relation to Zoologygeek, who didn't think he/she should even PAY the bill, even though npower offered installments.

magyar

TMFTP wrote:

The companies vastly - and I mean HUGELY - reduce their costs if people deal with them using DD. More than enough to offset the interest lost in having an extra £10 a month for 6 months.

You are, of course, quite right here, and I would certainly suggest anyone who is asked to make a lump sum payment like this asks for it to be spread over a reasonable period.

TMFTP

Apologies are due from me, magyar - I got the two posts merged into one in my head as I was responding. Both yours and Cardew's posts are clearly directed at zoo.

The basic point remains, but you're right - no-one's arguing...

:blush

stressedoutmumof1

Just to let you know, I did ring Npower and they put a stop on my direct debit and have agreed to let me spread the cost over the next 3 months, which I will get back as I will be in credit by what I have overpayed in the next 3 months - are you still with me I'm happy with this as it will be like a little savings plan and I am certainly not going to let them keep my account in credit, I will demand a cheque be sent my merry little way