Are N-power trying to change my monthly DD amount?? :S

Marco86

I use N-power's sign-online 18 tarriff as it's the cheapest.

I started with them back on 21/10/2010, and have been paying £34 per month as my direct-debit.
(I live alone in a studio flat, so my monthly electricty should cost between £30-£40 maximum)



I got my 1st bill from them 2days ago,
and in a very hard to read order and through a series of tables it says the following information-

-They estimated my starting meter reading on 21st October 2010, and from then to 3rd January (When they again estimated) they guessed i had used 1,438kws of electricity.
(So they estimated that for a studio flat i was using 625kws per month!)



-They decided to finally come and actually read my meter on 23rd April 2011.

The ''estimated'' starting reading that they guessed in late October was 10,070, and the actual reading in late April was 13,419.
Which means over over the 6 winter months id used 3,349kws, so averaged at 558kws per month.

Which whilst was quite high for a studio flat, it wasn't a rare amount,
especially given that it was winter and that i was unemployed at the time so at home during the day.



-It then says that the total cost of electricity used over these 6months of winter was £322.

(Which works out at £53 per month)



-Then on the back page it says that ''They predict i will use 5,528kwhs of electricity over the following 12months''.
(Which works out at 460kws per month, which im totally fine with as is a reasonable usage rate for a studio flat)



-And they finally then say that they predict my total electricty usage cost over the next 12months will be £536.

Which equates to an average of £44.66 per month total electricity cost.
(Again that is a monthly amount that id be fine to pay as its around the average cost for a property my size)




However on the 1st page, hidden amongst all the other boxes in the bottom corner, they have written-

''We check your payment amount every 6months to ensure you'll have paid just the right amount by your annual review.
We've now adjusted your payment amount to £73.00, taking your current balance into account in the calculation.
We will take this from your bank with effect from 13/6/2011.



Can anyone confirm exactly what this means though please?? :huh::huh:

Does it just mean that over the last 6months ive paid £34 x 6,
the actual cost of electricty ive used is £73 more than that amount already paid though,
and so they want me to make a 1-off payment of £73 to cover that?

As if that is the case that would be totally fine by me, as i wont even notice a 1-off £73 payment going out of my account. lol



Although due to the strange way that they've worded it by saying ''with effect from'' it makes it sound like they are trying to change my monthly direct-debit amount from £34 to £73...!!

Which if that is what they are trying id ofcourse just totally refuse to pay it, or even anything close to it,
as even by their own estimations my average monthly usage for the next 12months will only be £44.66 per month.



But so can anyone confirm exactly what they mean by this??

spiro

Over the last 6 months you have underpaid by £118, they expect you to use £536 over the next 12 months. Therefore they are going to increase you DD to £73 a month every month until the next review in order to clear the debit balance and cover future useage. To avoid such a large increase you would need to pay off the £118 now which would then mean you DD would increase to about £45.

macman

'They decided to finally come and actually read my meter on 23rd April 2011.'

So all you had to do was submit your own reading when you got a bill, and they would have rebilled you based on the actual reading.
if you don't want to get caught with huge catch up bills, submit your own readings at least every quarter.

Marco86

spiro wrote: »

Over the last 6 months you have underpaid by £118, they expect you to use £536 over the next 12 months. Therefore they are going to increase you DD to £73 a month every month until the next review in order to clear the debit balance and cover future useage. To avoid such a large increase you would need to pay off the £118 now which would then mean you DD would increase to about £45.

Cheers for the reply. :beer:


They will simply be told to f**k off if they try putting my direct debit anywhere close to £73 per month though!


As theres no way on earth that a studio flat costs £73 per month in electricity usage,
and if they themself are predicting that my average usage is going to be £44 per month then the maximum im going to pay by DD is £45.

macman

You don't get it...they aren't saying that you use £73 per month. Your estimated usage is 536/12 = £44 per month. But if you pay only that, that you will not be clearing any of your arrears. You either need to pay off a lump sum of £118 to clear the arrears now, or agree a DD higher than £44 to clear it over an agreed period (they're calculating it over 4 months-an extra £29pm will clear it in that time). Negotiating might stretch that to 6m-an extra £20pm (total £64pm).
Once the arrears has been cleared, your DD can drop back to around £44.

robrymond

I had a similar issue, it went from £41 to £138, mainly to cover the debts left by winter and the gas bills. Fair enough.

But then they calculated I'd just x amount during the next year, so decided to increase the monthly rate. Which has left me out of pocket for 3 months. Rang today and got it lowered to £67 as I'm due a £200 rebate for a year in July anyway.

Just annoying they are quick to rise the rates to cover your costs. Yet if I'd have known I'd be spending so much on gas, I wouldn't have it on so much, so this winter although they say thats average, I won't be having the heating on so bloody much! Or of course it may be a warm winter.