Moved to npower DD - monthy amount far too high!

laurenced

Hi all

I recently switched using Uswitch from British Gas/Scottish Hydro payment on receipt of bill to npower DD, because it apparently was going to save about £150 a year.

Today I got the letter through from npower and they plan to take £72/month on the direct debit. This is far too high. I live alone and my energy usage is minimal - since I've lived in this flat (10 months) I've paid an average of roughly £90 a quarter.

What's the best way to sort this out? I'm beginning to regret going to DD - despite the extra expense I think I preferred just paying what I owed at the relevant time

HappyMJ

Bit awkward really as you haven't actually lived there through a whole winter. 10 months means you moved in at the end of Jan. Read the meter regularly and provide the meter readings to them more often than they suggest. You need to be in credit when the bill is issued so they may just be estimating your winter usage and billing appropriately. Although £72 a month does seem very high. You also need to consider that £105 is a deferred discount which you need to pay for in advance then you get it back at the end of 12 months.

What do you think your annual usage would be in kWh and what do you think they should be taking?

laurenced

HappyMJ wrote: »

Bit awkward really as you haven't actually lived there through a whole winter. 10 months means you moved in at the end of Jan. Read the meter regularly and provide the meter readings to them more often than they suggest. You need to be in credit when the bill is issued so they may just be estimating your winter usage and billing appropriately. Although £72 a month does seem very high. You also need to consider that £105 is a deferred discount which you need to pay for in advance then you get it back at the end of 12 months.

What do you think your annual usage would be in kWh and what do you think they should be taking?

Yeah I think it was a mistake since I don't think I'll be here long-term, so the equalising benefits of direct debit will perhaps not apply.

I'm not sure what my annual usage will be - it's a warm flat (get heat from below ) and small, but as you say I've not lived here through a winter yet so I can't really know. The uSwitch figures used to calculate usage were based on bills over the time I've been here - I'd have thought it would algorithmically provide for an average % increase in winter!

I've not made a payment yet - first one due on the 28th of Dec. Alas I'm past the 7-day cooling off period though. Would it be possible/sensible to do another uSwitch switch right now, back to a standard pay-on-receipt-of-bill tariff (with whoever's cheapest)? In that case I presume I'd just give nPower the right readings at the point when the switch happened and I'd get credited back from their debit of £72 (since I can't possibly have used more than that since the switch to them occurred).

Or am I jumping the gun..? :think::undecided

HappyMJ

If you are not going to be there for another 12 months then Npower will probably not be the cheapest. You may be able to switch away without penalty which tariff did you switch to?

Low users according to UKPower use 11,000kWh of gas and 2,100kWh of electricity. If you use those figures then that's probably what Npower have used as well. Npower then comes back as £738 per year plus the £105 deferred discount equals £71 per month (your region is probably £72). That's on SOL24 and has a £40 exit fee which if you leave you will have to pay.

Keep them up to date on the meter readings and ask for a reduced DD but you must be in credit at all times.

laurenced

HappyMJ wrote: »

If you are not going to be there for another 12 months then Npower will probably not be the cheapest. You may be able to switch away without penalty which tariff did you switch to?

Low users according to UKPower use 11,000kWh of gas and 2,100kWh of electricity. If you use those figures then that's probably what Npower have used as well. Npower then comes back as £738 per year plus the £105 deferred discount equals £71 per month (your region is probably £72). That's on SOL24 and has a £40 exit fee which if you leave you will have to pay.

Keep them up to date on the meter readings and ask for a reduced DD but you must be in credit at all times.

Interesting figures!

The tariff is called 'Bill Saver'. I specifically chose one without an early exit fee as an insurance policy (naturally cautious!)

I'll look through my old bills to try and get a more accurate picture of my usage then check again whether it would be worth it to change again.

Thanks!

HappyMJ

laurenced wrote: »

Interesting figures!

The tariff is called 'Bill Saver'. I specifically chose one without an early exit fee as an insurance policy (naturally cautious!)

I'll look through my old bills to try and get a more accurate picture of my usage then check again whether it would be worth it to change again.

Thanks!

Well done on picking a no cancellation fee tariff.

Bill saver in my area on low usage would be £777 plus the £105 deferred discount would create a DD of £73.50. It's no longer available to new customers it's now called Flex Saver Feb 2013 and has a cancellation fee. I'd stick with it. Although for short term savings EDF standard plan comes back as £795 (£66.25 per month)