My NPower problem

stevenm37

Hi All
Ive posted before about my problem with NPower and I kind of expected it to be resolved. I switched following a call from Npower promising lower bills than British Gas who I was with up till NPower around the end of 2010. Despite sending an opening reading they didnt bill me for a few months, then they billed be a ridiculously low amount for gas & elec, both by DD. They then put the bill up to around £56, this has increased till now i'm paying £68 per month. I did make a complaint around them not billing me for months despite chasing this up and they put a credit of £50 on my account. I received a cash back £100 for paying by DD for 12 months but my account is still in debit.
Now that might all sound pretty normal. My issue is that when at home i'm alone. Home is a small modern terraced house. I use very little heating and i'm very diligent when it comes to my energy usage. I live at my girlfriends house for around four or five days each week so in effect im paying for around 8 to 12 days per month. To put it into perspective, my 70 odd year old parents are retired and home, they feel the cold and use the heating. They only pay £8 a month more than me and are almost £300 in credit!!!???
Ive spoken to NPower after i provided a reading and they say the bills are correct, although ive been with them well over a year i still cant see any account details online. How can my bills be accurate and how can I get NPower to look seriously at this issue?
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks Steve

dogshome

I'm afraid that judgeing your power use by the bills you pay, isn't the way to do it - You have to know what your annual Gas & Elec consumptions are in Kwh.
If you can't determine these figures from the bills, phone n'power and they will tell you.

Because of the unique way n'power ration out the high cost Prime Units that pay your yearly Service Charge, your Winter bills will be high.
However if the £68 D/Debit is not only paying for what you use, but also paying off debt, it appears that you are a relatively low user and your lifestyle seems to confirm this.

Armed with those annual Kwh figures, visit a few Switch sites to compare prices

macman

'I switched following a call from Npower promising lower bills than British Gas'
And you believed them? Did you think that they were likely to make a sale by promising higher bills? Did you check their unit rates and verify this? You've fallen for the oldest cold caller's trick in the book-promising you a initial lower DD. You then rapidly build debt and get hit with a catch -up bill, because your DD does not cover your actual usage,
In future use a comp site with your annual kWH figures to determine the best deal.
You can't compare heating costs across different properties and lifestyles-your parents may live in a house which is much better insulated and with much more efficient heating. As ever, the kWh usage figures are the key-forget what you spend per month on your DD, that is not relevant.