Npower to Southern Electric? please help (tenant)

dustinjames

hi
ive been living in a one bedroom flat, rented.
I have been with npower for electricity (flat is only electric, no gas)

first i was paying £18.50 per month,
then £22 per month, and now £35 per month.
Npower have raised their prices they tell me, and i also think i have gradually paid more as i have used more electricity with appliances etc.

(my last two bills are with estimated figures though)

my letting agent is trying to get me to switch to southern electric, as i think all their clients are with them. They say they are cheaper than most other suppliers, and they say its a simpler process to use them when vacating etc.

Shall i agree and make the swith to southern electric? paperwork suggests that its chepaer than b.gas and npower and that tenants in flats mostly use southern electric.

thanks for any advice.

vuvuzela

I would suggest not. I would strongly suspect that the agent will get a kickback from Southern, and personally I don't like them. Get your meter readings for the last year, not estimated ones, then work out the kWh used and use a comparison price checker to see who is cheapest. I will be staggered if it is Southern.
Also "tenants in flats mostly use southern electric" ?????????? Lies. Plain and simple lies.

macman

It's none of your letting agent's d**n business! They are clearly on a commission if they are telling blatant whoppers like that-do not believe a word of it.
Th reason your DD's are going up is that you are not providing regular readings, and your DD's are not keeping up with your actual usage, so you are always playing catch up-a large part of your last bill is probably accumulated debt. Take the advice given above and work out your best option from your actual usage.
PS: when you vacate, there is no 'paperwork': you advise the provider and supply your own meter reading. Don't ever rely on an agent to do that for you. It's your account and your responsibility alone.

KimYeovil

I agree that it is doubtful Southern Electric would be cheaper. EDF, nPower, British Gas, indeed most suppliers have cheaper electricity only tariffs.

One, make sure the accounts are in your name, two, visit a comparison site and find what tariffs are available. You may find one of nPower's tariffs are cheaper if you are not already on their sign on-line tariff. Three, if a different supplier does have a cheaper tariff then switch yourself (check first if there is a higher cashback available from a cashback site (like topcashback or quidco).

dustinjames

the agent just wants all their clients with SE, to make their work easier it seems.
the letter does say its cheaper than npower and best supplier in uswitch reports, but it doesnt say where these quotes/references are from!

npower sent me a letter in dec, saying prices are increasing.

ive just got the meter reading from when i moved in , and i should get the current reading this week, so ill have an idea of the total electricity used in 6months+, would this be the info required to do comparison check? not sure if its in kwh, i was just told a figure eg 16352..... what is this? is this kwh?

im on "standard electrical tarriff". when i spoke to npower when i moved in, they said stay with this tariff, see how it goes, and then we can see/explore if there is a cheaper npower tariff, might give them a call now then.

thanks

macman

Why can you not take your own reading?-it's your meter, you have a right to access it.
16,532 kWh usage would result in a 6 month bill of around £1,600, so doesn't sound correct at all. That's more likely your current reading. Deduct your opening reading and that gives your usage over the last 6m, then armed with that figure, use a comp site to find your best tariff. And I bet it isn't going to be SSE...
Any suppliers' 'standard' tariff is also their most expensive, so you've not really helped yourself by staying on that for 6 months.

dustinjames

i cant read my own meter, i had words with my agent in the beginnning about this, the meters are locked away for whole building, and only the management company of block do them on request, this is normal procedure i believe, nothing fishy. I can see the meter reading when the management company do it i presume. Ive requested a reading this week, they said ok.

16956 is the reading from june 2010, so once i get the reading this week, we will have a total usage for my stay....correct?
the meters dont get reset to 0 when i moved in, just the name of me and date of moving in was sorted out, im guessing.

i stayed on the tariff as it was working out around £20 per month, not bad. Looks like now it will be £35 per month, but as i say , its all estimated bills so i dont know whats what, ill ring npower this week as soon as i get the reading and chat with them about a cheaper deal, and also check uswitch or other similar comparison site.

cheers.

macman

You have a right to be granted reasonable access to your own meter to take your own readiings.
No, the meter does not get reset when you occupy, you supply an opening reading and it goes from there. Deduct that from your new reading and you hav the 6m total.
Your tariff was not costing you £20 a month, your DD was £20 a month, and that was far too low to cover your usage (standard supplier practice to hook you in by offering a low initial DD, and then hiking it). That's why you need to read and supply meter readings at least every 3 months, that way you won't get under-estimated bills, and your DD won't go up so much. First establish your actual kWh usage, then find the best deal via a comp site.
NB: The best deals you will get are the online ones, not the ones you get by calling them. And by signing up online you can also get any cashbacks available.

dustinjames

hi again
so i got my reading today.
after calculating new fig minus old figure,
over 9 months ive used 2235 (im assuming this is kwh)

sound about right?

so now ill give the reading to npower, and
also do some comparison site research.

uswitch is the best site?

they dont ask for consumption reading, only in £ terms per month.
i put £28 per month, southern electric is there, it says i can save about £30 with them.
but there are others scottish power and edf, which can save about £35 per year.

so looks like SE are a little cheaper, but there are diff packages, its confusing.

BUT gocompare give totally diff readings.
saying a diff npower package will save me £100+.
and edf and scottish power will save me £80-95.

macman

2,980kWh per year (pro-rata'd from your figure for 9 months) is extremely low for an all electric property. How do you heat it?
Based on 10p per kWH, your annual bill would be around £298 per year, so a DD of £25 would be expected. If you are paying £35, it is assumed that you have some debt built up from the estimated bills, and that is being recovered at £10pm.

dustinjames

macman wrote: »

2,980kWh per year (pro-rata'd from your figure for 9 months) is extremely low for an all electric property. How do you heat it?
Based on 10p per kWH, your annual bill would be around £298 per year, so a DD of £25 would be expected. If you are paying £35, it is assumed that you have some debt built up from the estimated bills, and that is being recovered at £10pm.

i hardly ever have used heating in rooms, apart from small electric portable heater only used for short bursts.
hot water: tank.
(one bedroom flat mind you, water tank is quite small).

ive never paid by direct debit, im assuming thats what you mean by DD.