Npower Gas Direct Debit annual review. Any tips??

lt1_2

Hi I wonder if anyone can help.

I have been with Npower since September 2009 and I have always paid £30 a month DD for gas. I moved in August last year from a one bedroom flat to a slightly larger two bedroom flat and I decided to stay with npower as a discount would be applied to my bill if I stayed with them for 12 months (I can't find a trace of ever being credited for this). There was a debit on the account when I moved of Approx £200 so I agreed for the monthly DD payment to increase to £40 but I was also told it would be reviewed every 6 months. When I did move Npower took over the supply in the flat next door by mistake and it wasn't until late in October that npower took over the gas supply in my new flat but I noticed I was still paying £30 a month DD but now 6 months later I have received my first bill and my first annual review letter stating that my monthly DD will be increased from £30 to £157 from June. Since I moved I have been focused on other things and this was unexpected.

I was also hoping that I would get my account back to zero at some point as until then Npower refuse to touch the electricity prepayment meter I inherited when I moved that is situated 7-8foot in the air on the wall which I have difficulty in reading and crediting due to its height.

Does anyone have any tips when dealing with npower to try to bring my DD down from £157 to a more affordable amount?

dogshome

Hi It1 - Some of the things in your post are a bit worrying:

n'powers annual cash- back depends on the customer having made 12 conscecutive D/Debit payments, but you moved into your original flat in Sept and out in the following August, so depending the actual dates of your move and your D/D payments, you may not have met the criteria.
( If in fact you were were told by n'power that you would get the cash-back by staying with them when you moved, but have not seen it as credit on your bills WRITE to n'power and Complain)

I'm afraid that with a Gas debt of £200 in August, you were seriously underpaying for yor use and the
£10 uplift in the D/D's was way too low - At £10 a month it would take 20 months to pay off the debt, and that does not account for the extra Gas you are using.

It's really up to you to take control of your bills by working out how many Kwh of gas you are using a year, working out the cost on the tariff you are on and setting your D/D's at a level that will pay for it.
Be aware that there are two major snags with n'power:
1) Your monthly D/D's include money that will be re-paid to you after you have made 12 consecutive D/D's, but if you fail to keep to the rules the cash goes into n'powers back pocket
2) n'power do not follow the rest of industry in chargeing the NSC yearly Prime Unit allocation daily according to the number of days a bill covers - n'power load the allocation up over the winter months which produces high winter bills

lt1_2

Hi dogshome - thanks for your reply.

I expected them to require the 12 consecutive months but they did tell me over the phone I would receive the cashback if I stayed with them.

I know now that I should have been more proactive and worked things out a bit more and also chased them when they didn't increase the DD. I expected them to raise my DD when I was working up a debit and for them to manage my account to some extent i.e. review my account after my first winter with them but they have waited 21 months to change it. This is the first time I have paid by monthly DD for gas.

I didn't know the allocation was more evenly spread with other companies that does seem fairer.

nPower

Hi It1

Can I look into this for you? I'm concerned to hear about the large increase in your direct debit and would like to take a look into for you.

Can you please send your details to forumresponse@npower.com and I will get on to it straight away?

Best
Sally