npower raised price of electric units, left with shocking bill.

oasismark

Hi all, hope someone can advise on any action.

Im with npower, and was happy, till i just got my 6 monthly bill.

I pay around £90 per month for both utilities, but get billed every 6 months.

Last year over the xmas period i paid an extra £43, which i thought was ok over the winter period.

Over the summer i over paid £175, and had it returned.

This winter i was expecting a little bit more as usual but have been hit for a bill of an extra £489! :mad:

Now i may have used more gas & electric, but i thought there's no way ive used 10 times as much!

So called them up for an explanation.

The gas bill was about the same a little bit more, but it showed the electric bill was the problem. A staggering £613 for 6 months of electric. (to compare, last year it was £373)

I got them to tell me how much units id used this year compared to last year.

Last year, Aug 10th - Jan 11th = 3357 units
This year, Aug 11th - Jan 12th = 4121 units

So ok its more units, but i still didnt get how an extra 764 units (a 18% increase) could cost 10 times as much.

When i questioned this i was told the initial tariff i was on expired and i was switched to a different tariff.

So here lays the problem, i was put on a higher rate tariff, without being told, npower have said they send out letters, but i certainly didnt have one as i would have acted.

Can npower change my tariff without me knowing?
Dont they have to prove i had notice of this change
Seams very underhand they give you a cheap tariff to entice you them whack it up after a year without notice!

I have sent a letter of complaint to npower but expect nothing back.

Im also writing to the ombudsman.

Just doesnt seam fair or right companies can do this

Any help or advice is very welcome.

Thanks for reading

Mark

jalexa

oasismark wrote: »

A staggering £613 for 6 months of electric. (to compare, last year it was £373)

So ok its more units, but i still didnt get how an extra 764 units (a 18% increase) could cost 10 times as much.

Don't you mean twice as much? Where does the "10 times" come from????

oasismark

jalexa wrote: »

Don't you mean twice as much? Where does the "10 times" come from????

Sorry this is what i meant by 10 times, last year i paid £43 extra, this year is was £489


However, the main issue i feel is the electricity bill was double, but for only an increase of 18% (746 units)

jalexa

oasismark wrote: »

Can npower change my tariff without me knowing?
Dont they have to prove i had notice of this change
Seams very underhand they give you a cheap tariff to entice you them whack it up after a year without notice!

Well yes you would/should have been notified but a "one person's word against anothers" battle is very difficult for a consumer to win against a supplier which almost certainly has a system capable of spewing out automatic letters.

Well of course this is underhand, except all the "old pros" here already know that.

My main advice is to pay more attention to the meter reading element of the bill rather than the £££s and in particular that the opening and closing readings on the bill of concern are both actual readings.

If you are disatisfied you are fully entitled to raise a formal complaint however the Energy Ombudsman will not be interested until the NPower process is exhausted (or 8 weeks has elapsed). So "nothing back" by 8 weeks would not be a bad outcome.

HappyMJ

What was the intial tariff that you were on. It may have been a low rate fixed for a few years and then at the end of that date it would have appeared the cost of energy has increased by so much along with your increased usage it would make your bill double.

By my calc's you have gone from 11.1p/kWh to 14.8p/kWh a 34% increase in unit charges which could easily have happened over two years.

I would be more concerned about the very high electric usage. You should be trying to get that below 2000kWh for 6 months. Do you have some form of electric heating or do you use a dryer a lot?

oasismark

HappyMJ wrote: »

By my calc's you have gone from 11.1p/kWh to 14.8p/kWh a 34% increase in unit charges which could easily have happened over two years.

Id tell you if i knew what to look at, so confusing.

it says first 3229 at 14.10p = £456.58

i guess that the main chunk of it.

I could post a pic if it helps and you'd like to see it.

HappyMJ wrote: »

I would be more concerned about the very high electric usage. You should be trying to get that below 2000kWh for 6 months. Do you have some form of electric heating or do you use a dryer a lot?

Yes we use some small electric heaters, but they are the low use kind, not and big ones that kick out real heat.

I knew the bill would be higher, and was expecting a few £100 higher, but £500 just seamed way over estimation.

HappyMJ

oasismark wrote: »

Id tell you if i knew what to look at, so confusing.

it says first 3229 at 14.10p = £456.58

i guess that the main chunk of it.

I could post a pic if it helps and you'd like to see it.



Yes we use some small electric heaters, but they are the low use kind, not and big ones that kick out real heat.

I knew the bill would be higher, and was expecting a few £100 higher, but £500 just seamed way over estimation.

I imagine it's plus VAT as well. However that figure does not match the 4121 figure you gave in your first post. What was the unit rate on the bill from 2 years ago?

You shouldn't use any electric heating at all with gas central heating if you can avoid it. Gas is about 4p/kWh and your electric heating is 14p/kWh. It's 3.5 times more expensive using your current rates. Switch to a new tariff and you should get it much cheaper.

oasismark

Hmm seams im not allowed to post links as a new user.

anyway to get around this?

HappyMJ

put a space between http:// (here) www. (here) andtherestofthelink.com

oasismark

Feb 2011 bill

http:// imageshack.us /photo/my-images/713/imageguq.jpg/

Feb 2012

http:// imageshack.us /photo/my-images/14/imagecuf.jpg/



I have now switched to a new tariff, and npower stated it would save me £350!

You dont say!!! :doh:

spiro

Your old bill shows you were on an online tariff so you supplier does not have to write to you at the end of the tariff they can send you an email or put a message on your online account.

Of more concern is between Oct'11 and Feb'12 you have used more than the average annual consumption. If you have gas I would want to know how that is possible, immersion left on? heaters, tvs etc etc.....