Npower bill - had an increase?

DirectDebacle

Thank you for the update.

Excellent news. npowers achilles heel is their almost incomprehensible explanation of how they manage DD payments. I doubt too many of their staff actually understand it.

Eon may not be quite so easy.

As you say the devil you know...

If you do stay with npower there should be no more probelems with your DD. But then again we are talking npower here.;)

backfoot

Bronnie,

What did you say in relation to SLC27?

Others may want to use your template or we could develop a set of words around it to put the Suppliers on the backfoot .

Bronnie

backfoot wrote: »

Bronnie,

What did you say in relation to SLC27?

Others may want to use your template or we could develop a set of words around it to put the Suppliers on the backfoot .

Well the wording was nothing special in the first instance. Just along the lines of

In the light of Npower's own estimates of my usage cost for the next 12 months, I am dissatisfied with what I consider to be a disproportionately large increase in my proposed monthly direct debit payment, as advised by you on 22/09/2011.

I would like this monthly figure to be reviewed so as to reflect more accurately your own annual figures for estimated usage cost. Otherwise, please be so kind as to justify your figures, in writing, with particular reference to Regulation SLC27.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

It was off the top of my head , in the wee small hours, I'm sure it can be improved upon, although pleased to say it obviously was effective.

backfoot

Bronnie,

Superb and it has done the trick.

As an opening shot brief and to the point.

Interested to hear DirectDebacle's take on it, as he is strong on this area, but I think others can use it to good effect.

Thanks. :j

DirectDebacle

I thought Bronnies letter was pretty damn good. Certainly did the trick.

I am not a great lover of template letters, as they lack individuality, but can be useful to some.

Something along these lines perhaps?

Your address
Address
Address


Date



Account no: XXX


Dear xxxxxxxxx


I have recently received notification from you that the amount of my direct debit is about to be changed.

I monitor my energy usage closely and the proposed change seems to be excessive.

I would like to understand the reason for this.

Please explain, in full, the reasons for the change in my direct debit payments.

Bear in mind your obligations under Standard Licence Condition 27. 13.-16.



Yours sincerely,



[Your name]

Bronnie

Save yourself time and money in the first instance by submitting by email via "Contact Us" on the npower website. Just ensure you receive the immediate automatic acknowledgement email. npower's standard response time is 5 working days, which they adhered to in my case.

meggsy

Bronnie wrote: »

Further to my previous posts regarding the disproportionate proposed increase in my dd to £158 per month, I received a short phone call from npower this afternoon and the following email

This email is to confirm the details we discussed over the telephone regarding your direct debit payment amount.

I am pleased to confirm that I have reset your payment amount to £96 per month, starting from 07/11/2011. You will receive a letter to confirm this within the next 7-10 days.

I have calculated this amount taking into account of the cost your projected yearly usage which is around £1152 (excluding your annual direct debit discount of £100) spread across 12 months.

I trust this is to your satisfaction

The £96 figure was offered to me over the phone immediately and without any further discussion required on my part. I'm assuming the mere mention of SLC27 in my email did the trick, as it was otherwise a very short and to-the-point initial email requesting this review.



I'm wondering whetehr I should stay with them now actually. Since SP15 was withdrawn and Coop put up their price, Npower Online 24 is quite competitive. The other companies don't seem to be much better in their working practices from what I read on here and tbh, with all the research I've done, I'm feeling like I've got the measure of Npower and their little ways now. Could be a case of better the devil you know.....?!

I stayed with 'the devil I knew' for 4 years which was 3 years too many, they will get to you in the end Bronnie

They should have included the annual discount in their calculations, they didn't do so until recent bills i.e., my bills dated December 2010
and June 2011 has Annual discount / Alternative reward in the table headed Predicted costs.

Annual discount / Alternative reward/cashback/loyalty bonus/exit fee ? Which they might give you at 12 months but it's more likely to be 15 months or even 18 as one of my emails informed me. It's really not on holding discounts to the disadvantage of the customer especially as mine should have been paid in March. It could well be that npower have got themselves a gigantic free loan over the winter months by inflating direct debits at 6 monthly reviews and delaying the discounts as well.

DirectDebacle

Bronnie wrote: »

Save yourself time and money in the first instance by submitting by email via "Contact Us" on the npower website. Just ensure you receive the immediate automatic acknowledgement email. npower's standard response time is 5 working days, which they adhered to in my case.

Astounding. Wonder if it was a mistake or if they have actually started to make improvements.

Have some fun. Whether you switch or stay, make a complaint.

Tell them their behaviour has caused you sleepless nights worrying over this and you have spent hours poring over your records trying to fathom out how they arrived at the initial revised DD.

Point out that if they had followed SLC 27 none of this would have happened.

Ask for £50.00 and a bunch of flowers to make you feel better or you might let the Energy Ombudsman know about what they did.

Bronnie

meggsy wrote: »

I stayed with 'the devil I knew' for 4 years which was 3 years too many, they will get to you in the end Bronnie

They should have included the annual discount in their calculations, they didn't do so until recent bills i.e., my bills dated December 2010
and June 2011 has Annual discount / Alternative reward in the table headed Predicted costs.

Annual discount / Alternative reward/cashback/loyalty bonus/exit fee ? Which they might give you at 12 months but it's more likely to be 15 months or even 18 as one of my emails informed me. It's really not on holding discounts to the disadvantage of the customer especially as mine should have been paid in March. It could well be that npower have got themselves a gigantic free loan over the winter months by inflating direct debits at 6 monthly reviews and delaying the discounts as well.

Meggsy, did you challenge them, once you'd qualified for the discount and ask for it to be paid?

It's my understanding that in the first year, the discount is already factored into the dd (presumably to make it more attractive to new customers), but subsequently it's payable after the qualifying period. Is that correct?

If this is the case then, yes, they are taking an additional £8 odd per month to cover this. However in my particular instance, in recalculating, they appear, at time of writing, to have overlooked taking into account my £165 debit balance, when recalculating the new dd . If this remains the case, plus as we are moving into winter, then I think in terms of keeping the money in my bank account or theirs, I will be ahead! Need to wait for written confirmation from them to be sure, in case they are going to ask for debit balance to be paid off first (this has not been mentioned on phone or in their email) so will wait to check that before deciding what to do!

Bronnie

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Astounding. Wonder if it was a mistake or if they have actually started to make improvements.

Have some fun. Whether you switch or stay, make a complaint.

Tell them their behaviour has caused you sleepless nights worrying over this and you have spent hours poring over your records trying to fathom out how they arrived at the initial revised DD.

Point out that if they had followed SLC 27 none of this would have happened.

Ask for £50.00 and a bunch of flowers to make you feel better or you might let the Energy Ombudsman know about what they did.

Oh and how I love a bit of sport when provoked!

I promised myself I wouldn't get drawn into this, I've got a life to live, but I must admit, this is sounding just too tempting to ignore. (and yes, I actually have wasted many (wo)man-hours on this!!)

My last "victory" included a rather decent bottle of champers, a personal "sorry" from a high-up at BT and a decent deduction from my bill . Would have just preferred angst-free BT Broadband rather than the 3 months' ineptitude I endured tbh!

That was a couple of years ago, maybe it's time to make another stand now?