Changing From Meter Billing to Prepaid Meter

cutefinger

I am currently with Npower on Dual Fuel (Gas and Electricity) and pay £66 by direct debit every month for a 2 bedroom rented apartment.

The last time i checked with Npower, I spoke to one of their agents on the phone, whom I gave a meter reading of my apartment.

He advised I had used £108 worth of electric in December 2011 and this has happened again in January. This surprised me as previous usage in a month was hovering between £25-£35 as I rarely use it except between 5pm till 6.am the following day and all my electric bulbs are on energy savings.

Now I am considering switching to "Prepaid Meter". Just want to ask if this could be a better option as I do not want to rack huge bills.

Also, since my apartment is rented, would I need to ask for my landlord permission before switching considering that the meter will be replaced.

I do apologise if my questions are a bit naive. I am an immigrant to the UK and would like to keep my bills low without owing any debt please.

Thanks

spiro

As you have gas I assume your heating and hot water uses gas. That only leaves elec for the rest. Over £100 per month seems very high and it jumping by 3 to 4 times is also odd. Try reading your meter every day and post the figures on here as that may help.

Just be sure the supplier is not saying that they have increased your dual fuel DD from £66 per month to £108 as that is a completely different matter.

macman

It's not light bulbs that use electricity, it's heating and hot water. How is the property heated and hot watered?
If you give readings at least quarterly, you won't get into debt because your DD will be adjusted to track your actual consumption.
You need to post your actual kWh consumption (forget the £'s), because that is absurdly high for a property with a gas supply.

Cardew

cutefinger wrote: »

I spoke to one of their agents on the phone, whom I gave a meter reading of my apartment.

This seems to me to be a possible cause - i.e. you got the reading wrong.

What sort of meter is it? a digital reading or round dials?

If the former are you ignoring the decimal places?

The latter(dial) can also be confusing as the pointers rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise on alternate dials.

nPower

Hi cutefinger,

It does sound like your usage has jumped up.

If you send me your details to forumresponse@npower.com I can take a look at this for you and see what's happened.

Many thanks,

Adam

cutefinger

spiro wrote: »

As you have gas I assume your heating and hot water uses gas. That only leaves elec for the rest. Over £100 per month seems very high and it jumping by 3 to 4 times is also odd. Try reading your meter every day and post the figures on here as that may help.

Just be sure the supplier is not saying that they have increased your dual fuel DD from £66 per month to £108 as that is a completely different matter.

I am sure its not the Direct debit that was increased. The direct debit is still at £66 currently.

cutefinger

macman wrote: »

It's not light bulbs that use electricity, it's heating and hot water. How is the property heated and hot watered?
If you give readings at least quarterly, you won't get into debt because your DD will be adjusted to track your actual consumption.
You need to post your actual kWh consumption (forget the £'s), because that is absurdly high for a property with a gas supply.

The property is currently heated and "hot watered" via the gas system. however, I sometimes use the electric heater to warm the living room just before the radiator warms the entire building.

I do apologise if I sound a bit naive please. How do i calculate the kWh please?

cutefinger

Cardew wrote: »

This seems to me to be a possible cause - i.e. you got the reading wrong.

What sort of meter is it? a digital reading or round dials?

If the former are you ignoring the decimal places?

The latter(dial) can also be confusing as the pointers rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise on alternate dials.

Thanks for your comments, its a round dials...not digital

cutefinger

nPower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi cutefinger,

It does sound like your usage has jumped up.

If you send me your details to forumresponse@npower.com I can take a look at this for you and see what's happened.

Many thanks,

Adam

Thanks for your response Adam, What details would you want me to provide please?

I'd be happy to provide them if I can get advice on how to keep my bills within normal use without incurring bills i can't pay.

Thank you very much

Cardew

cutefinger wrote: »

Thanks for your comments, its a round dials...not digital

Are you sure the meter is being read correctly - read below carefully.


For example, the reading for the digital meter shown below should be recorded as 6653.




Dial meter
If you have a dial meter, please remember the following points when you take a reading:

• Adjacent dials rotate in opposite directions
• Ignore dials marked ‘100 per rev’ and the large dial
• Ignore red dials
• Read the other dials from left to right; write down the number that the hand has passed
• If the pointer falls between two figures, write down the lower figure. If the pointer falls between 9 and 0, write down 9

For example, the reading for the dial meter shown above should be recorded as 6653.

nPower

Hi cutefinger,

If you could send me your account number or address details to the email address, that would be great, and I can get this looked into.

Many thanks,

Adam