13% Increase or 34% Increase ?

[Deleted User]

I started on the nPower SOL_20 Tariff at the start of 2011 expecting to pay £666 for the year.

In Oct they increased that to £752.

Now, I've been told that I'm being thrown off the SOL_20 Tariff at the end of the year ( as expected ).

However, the cheapest Tariff available to move to is nPower's SOL_24.
Because of Fixed Standing Charges for both Gas and Electricity on that Tariff, however ( which weren't present in SOL_20 ), it will cost £893/year.

That means that, over the year, nPower has increased my bill by 34% ( £893-£666 ) rather than 'just' 13% ( £752 - £666 ).

And I, of course, am just one of tens of thousands !

Does anybody understand WHY/HOW energy companies can get away with claiming to be 'only' increasing their prices by 13% when, in fact, it's over 2.5 times as much ?

Why isn't OfGem railing against this ?
I can't even see where MoneySavingExpert emphasises this.

Will somebody please tell me what I'm missing here ?

LindaMary

Exactly the same situation here. Any Npower rep care to comment?

spiro

OFGEM set the rules by which suppliers calculate the percentage of any increase. It may be that it is based around 'standard tariffs' not any discounted tariffs.

withabix

You can't compare the price increases on discounted tariffs with the published increases on standard tariffs, as spiro says above.

Try price-checking OVO. I read somewhere that they had cancelled a planned price increase.

[Deleted User]

I already know and understand that the headline-rate increases are based around standard ( rather than 'discounted' ) tariffs
and that this is what Ofgem monitors.

What I don't understand is why Ofgem allow the power companies to pass off this reduced rate ( 13% ) as their 'real' rate of increase.
Nobody who has the option ( and a lot of time ) is on a ( dearer ) standard tariff when they have an option of a discounted tariff
so I suspect there are many more people hit by the 34% increase than the 13% increase.

This is deception - pure and simple - and Ofgem appear to be willingly colluding with it.

Where are the investigative journalists while all this is going on under their noses ?

withabix

bsnottm wrote: »

Where are the investigative journalists while all this is going on under their noses ?

Probably doing other stuff, because they understand the concept of fixed rate deals.