HELP with Npower please!

emilyx78

Hello we moved house in September and Npower offered us a price match on our utilites of £90 plus a direct debit discount, they have sent an email saying they have re-evaluated our prices and now its going to be £176 per month, and have deducted this first payment from our bank account, thats over £2000 a year, we cant afford it my husband is the only worker at the moment as im on long term sick, what do we do? can they increase payments that much? can we change supplier?

Thanks

hermione987uk

If you have it in writing about the price match then tell them you will take them to trading standards as they have broken an agreement with you.
Check you switch.com to see if you can get a better deal as well and make sure you keep on at them and they may even wipe your bill. Also try talking to citizens advice bureau to see if they can help at all.

British Gas had a direct debit set up with my mum of around £80 a month and then one month they tried taking over £200 because they said she had built up a debt as she wasnt paying enough, my mum argued if she wasnt paying enough why didnt they tell her to begin with so she hadnt built up a debt. In the end they agreed they were at fault and wiped her "debt". She switched suppliers and pays a bit more now but she says she will never use BG again.

dogshome

Hi emilyx78 - I'm afraid that basing your bills for a year on a D/Debit level quoted by a new supplier is not the way to do it - You must compare prices based on your annual Gas & Elec consumptions in Kwh - but down feel too down as all the suppliers have salespersons who will quote low D/Debit costs to get the customer to sign up.

n'powers hike in the D/D is to pay for the power & gas you are actually using, plus an amount to pay off the debt that accumulated becuase your D/D payments were too low

However, I suspect you are on 6 monthly billing with n'power and have had a Bill recently that covers the entire winter, and you can use this to get a good idea of what your yearly use really is:
Gas, subtract 80% of the bills useage and add the remaining 20% to the bill to give your annual use over Winter & Summer
Elect Subtract 20% of the bill and add the remaining 80% to the bill to give your annual use over over Winter & Summer
With these figures visit some switch sites to check n'powers prices

Be aware that your n'power tariff probably has a worthwhile cash-back after you have paid 12 consecutive monthly D/D's, which you will lose if you change suppliers before you have paid 12 D/D's

MikeR71

Easy. Switch.

This is what EON did to me last year. Apart from being very expensive, they wanted to charge me £150 a month! I switched and paid £70 and with a bit of care I only owe them a bout a £100 now.

Never worry about switching when it's the solution that makes sense.

Gerrard_8_lfc

If you Switch as many other people are suggesting they will ask you to pay a full and final bill within 28 days, now if you can afford that fine however nPower have just said they will match the DD for you when switching you must make sure they were the cheapest supplier for you and not just rely on a lower direct debit. The increase in the direct debit will be clear the arrears and keep up with your consumption so you end up with a zero balance after 3 - 6 months.

Use a comparison website and find your cheapest supplier and dont just take someones word for it.