Npower bill - had an increase?

meggsy

DirectDebacle wrote: »

I may be wrong but I think that npower are up to their old tricks here.

The videos Bronnie linked to clearly give the impression that DD are expected to be in balance after 12 payments. The text Bronnie quoted as to why this may not always be the case is unconvincing.

There is growing evidence that npower are attempting to ensure DD accounts are balanced by the end of winter by altering the anniversary date, which can cause extraordinarily high DD demands.

This can cause another problem for customers and another benefit for npower.

That is the DD discount. As we can see some customers, having got nowhere with having their DD adjusted to a reasonable level, are simply switching. Some may lose the DD discount because of this. Others may take matters into their own hands and cancel the DD and set up a new one for a reasonable amount (if possible) or request their bank to re-call the DD.

In the latter case I imagine that npower would then refuse to pay the DD discount on the grounds that the terms of the DD had not been met. I haven't seen any posts complaining of that yet, but it could be happening.

Customer care by npower of either accepting unwarranted DD increases or losing your DD discount if you don't, seems about right.

Thanks DD, sadly I think npower have a very large bag of tricks which is brought out frequently to the benefit of themselves, those of us on this site are aware but there must be thousands of customers and potential customers out there who don't have a clue how they operate, I didn't either when I switched to them in 2007.

I joined this site because of a huge bill and found I wasn't alone !
Not only had I been overcharged during my first year by around £100 but they increased my DD on March 08 bill from £48 to £90 on gas (they were billing gas and elec separately then)
The discount was then £80 which they credited to my electric bill which then showed a credit of £84. Common sense tells me it should have been credited to the gas account which had a £205 debit. With the discount applied and without an overcharge it would have shown a £25 debit, but no, I had a new DD of £90.

If anyone hasn't heard of the npower 2007-2008 overcharge, you can read all about it here ... (it's very long)

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/822299

All my bills have been based on meter readings sent in monthly and sent on the day of a price rise.

It would be helpful to know if others are puzzled about when their anniversary date falls, I suspect mine was moved from March to June. My bills which have a review at the very end have a heading 'Personal account review' and a box referring to 'annual review' but it is not obvious when this is!

They have also produced bills on the 12th March, to avoid crediting my account on the 13th March with the £100 discount. Consumer Focus said at the time it was within their remit to do this. Switching bills to just two a year, June and December in my case allowed them to hang on to the discount until crediting the June bill ho ho !

I'm very pleased I am 'out' but it won't stop me letting others know how devious they are

DirectDebacle

I agree, npower are an enigma. If they really want to align DD balances to the spring then, as yours already was, why change it?

npower provide no definition of annual review but do state when they intend to review accounts.

An annual review is something that is reviewed every year.

Eon are more specific:

How are my monthly Direct Debit payments calculated?

Your Direct Debit agreement is designed to bring your account to a zero balance in the spring of each year, when we carry out an annual review of your account.

This is mis-leading. By definition an annual review of an account opened in the autumn will have an annual review the following autumn.

Eon are not carrying out an annual review at all. They are simply reviewing accounts so that all of them will be at zero in the spring.

I am waiting for one of these companies to provide an explanation to support this policy.

I haven't yet found any rules, regulations, legistlation or guidance to support such a policy.

(Un)fortunately my DD is already aligned to March/April as that is when I switched to my present supplier. I am not likely to suffer the DD abuse that others have reported so not much chance of me being able to mount a challenge on my own account.

meggsy

Is it 1st April ?

They also have a new billing system, so beware

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=147226

BenNevis

DirectDebacle wrote: »

I haven't yet found any rules, regulations, legistlation or guidance to support such a policy.

But you also don’t appear to have found any words that specifically prohibit such a policy either.;)

Agreed, Ofgem has used words such as “annual” that might imply reviews should be based on a year’s consumption but it could also mean (eg) that reviews should take place annually. What energy companies appear to be doing is using a customer’s annual consumption as a starting point from which they can assess the customer’s energy and cost to say 31st March and set the DD accordingly.

If you think that runs against Ofgem’s intentions you probably need to find something that Ofgem has written that actually says so. Do you have anything along those lines? Have you thought of writing to Ofgem?

backfoot

BenNevis wrote: »

Agreed, Ofgem has used words such as “annual” that might imply reviews should be based on a year’s consumption but it could also mean (eg) that reviews should take place annually. What energy companies appear to be doing is using a customer’s annual consumption as a starting point from which they can assess the customer’s energy and cost to say 31st March and set the DD accordingly.

If you think that runs against Ofgem’s intentions you probably need to find something that Ofgem has written that actually says so. Do you have anything along those lines? Have you thought of writing to Ofgem?

So if I join a new supplier, like I did on the 1st December 2010,then I should have paid a seasonally skewed DD until 31st March 2011,then started a new 12 month period going forward? :eek:

On my gas bill alone, the DD would have moved from £100 per month to £200 per month for the four month period.

BenNevis

backfoot wrote: »

So if I join a new supplier, like I did on the 1st December 2010,then I should have paid a seasonally skewed DD until 31st March 2011,then start a new 12 month period going forward?

Why not? Before I signed up to monthly direct debit payments (to save money) I used to get a bill every quarter for payment in full. If I had joined a new supplier on 1st December I would expect to get a bill calculated to 28th February, sometime in early March for immediate payment. I used to put so much aside over the previous three months to cover it. What’s the diff?:)

It might be fair to say that the number of customers complaining about increased monthly payments shows that the energy supply companies are not fully explaining things. Ofgem says they must be fully transparent but it ain’t happening yet.

backfoot

BenNevis wrote: »

What’s the diff?:)

The one is a quarterly payment scheme and the other is a monthly direct debit scheme.:D

BenNevis

backfoot wrote: »

The one is quarterly payment scheme and the other is a monthly direct debit scheme.

True, but come on…you know perfectly well the point I’m making. There is no financial difference in the two methods. I would be charged the same amount for the same amount of energy covering the same period. It worked well with quarterly bills. What’s the big difference?

Can you now give me a proper answer?:)

backfoot

BenNevis wrote: »

True, but come on…you know perfectly well the point I’m making. There is no financial difference in the two methods. I would be charged the same amount for the same amount of energy covering the same period. It worked well with quarterly bills. What’s the big difference?

Can you now give me a proper answer?:)

I did, when I explained that my own payments would have doubled from £100 to £200 for the first four months of your proposal.

I would also have had to find the extra £400 to finance it. Such a scheme would not allow most customers to switch at that time of the year. Consequently it would be entirely uncompetitive.

It also completely alters the original intention and operation of the DD schemes. That was to spread the seasonality of consumption over a 12 month period. It was an attractive proposition for both supplier and customer.:)

DirectDebacle

Hello Ben,

But you also don’t appear to have found any words that specifically prohibit such a policy either.;)

I don't need to. Already covered in SLC 27.

Agreed, Ofgem has used words such as “annual” that might imply reviews should be based on a year’s consumption but it could also mean (eg) that reviews should take place annually. What energy companies appear to be doing is using a customer’s annual consumption as a starting point from which they can assess the customer’s energy and cost to say 31st March and set the DD accordingly.

Where does SLC 27 refer to 'annual'?

SLC 27 does not refer to time periods and does not imply any. Ofgem fully explain why they have not incuded prescriptive terms in SLC 27.

In your example that is what some companies appear to be doing. However SLC 27 applies to the terms of the Domestic Supply Contract.

If you think that runs against Ofgem’s intentions you probably need to find something that Ofgem has written that actually says so. Do you have anything along those lines? Have you thought of writing to Ofgem?

It is written into SLC 27. therefore I have no need to write to Ofgem.