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

HappyMJ

From 9p before VAT in Jan 2011(a very good rate) to 14.14p in Jan 2012 (the standard rate). It's quite normal.... big increase but quite normal.

leezuk1

Have just spent the morning on the phone with a very similar problem - usage hasn't changed but prices went up last October and no letter received. I am taking part in a monitoring survey so copy all my correspondence and definitely did not receive letter that this was happening - only spoke to them in Aug to check monthly payments. This has happened before and I got back over £500 as that time they transferred me over to a different/very expensive tariff without notifying me.

Now have bill for £250 plus monthly payments going up from £140 to £175 as the person who set it at £140 last time messed up the calculation.

Manager said apologies and offered £20 x 2 complaints as goodwill gesture. Or it could go to the next level of complaints... which it now has.

Fed up of being fobbed off - know it will happen with other companies as well but all sorts of excuses were given to me in the conversation - incl 6 mil letters go out - well then would you not accept that not everyone gets these letters? Can you prove this letter went out? No. etc etc

Supposed to get call back within 3 days from complaints dept - will post the outcome.

oasismark

Looks like i have to just sit and take it.

As usual the consumer is hit by underhand tactics, creating big bills, while energy companies anounce record profits and nobody does a thing about it.

ENERGY giant npower sparked anger by more than DOUBLING its profits in the first nine months of the year.
Householders have cut down on energy use but the company still made £234million between January and September – up from £95million during the same time in 2010.
News of the bumper haul came 24 hours after rival energy firms SSE and E.ON announced combined profits of £544million.

Ill def check my electric items around the house tho.

Thanks you everyone for the advice, help and time.

leezuk1

Before you give up - make sure you speak to a manager - if they do not resolve your problem - they should offer to pass you to a higher level - the complaints dept - they have the highest authority to resolve problems - even if you get a goodwill gesture and they offer to spread your debt over a longer time it will help hopefully - good luck.

oasismark

spiro wrote: »

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.....

Sorry, I dont buy that ive used too much electricity and that the bill relates to that.

The fact that the price went from 9p to 14p is more of a factor here, and this is the fault/tactics of npower.

As stated before i only increased my usage by 18% over last year.

I expected my usage to go up, new baby in house, mrs at home more, more washing and ironing etc. and 18% reflects that, but now having an account in debit of £500, and my monthly bill increasing by £50 does NOT reflect that.

If my tariff would have stayed the same i'd have a relative increase that i would have happily paid, cos I used more electric, but im paying more because npower changed my tariff, and that's what's infuriating.

Again it show how companies will conveniently not inform you that they are increasing their charges and not inform you till after the winter period, when you have already had 6 months at the highest usage at the highest price.

It just sucks, yet cos of small print, cunsumers take the hit and line the pockets of fat cats.

(sorry for that rant there, not aimed at anyone here)

macman

If you have gas CH, I still don't understand why you are using any electric heaters at all?
If you submit meter readings at least every 3 months, you will not get hit with big catch up bills like this.
And if you make a diary note as to when your discount tariff ends, you won't get bumped onto a Standard tariff without knowing it.

HappyMJ

You should have known the end date of the sign online 17 tariff when you signed up and switched before then. The end date of that tariff was 30th March 2011. That was part of the conditions when you signed up years ago. They don't need to tell you that.

You electric usage is high. The average for a family home is 3,300kWh per year. You used 4,121kWh over 5 months which is significantly more than average.

oasismark

macman wrote: »

If you have gas CH, I still don't understand why you are using any electric heaters at all?
If you submit meter readings at least every 3 months, you will not get hit with big catch up bills like this.
And if you make a diary note as to when your discount tariff ends, you won't get bumped onto a Standard tariff without knowing it.

The conservatory and utility room are not served by the gas CH.

I did not even know my tariff could change without me knowing.

macman

But all tariffs except Standard generally have a fixed duration-when they end you usually go automatically onto Standard.
As above, you urgently need to investigate why you are using so much electricity (though if you are heating a conservatory in winter by standard rate electricity, you've probably already answered that question).

spiro

oasismark wrote: »

The conservatory and utility room are not served by the gas CH.

Have you thought about getting the GSH extended to cover these areas?