Deferred Discount

enakn

Hi,

Does anyone know which companies are NOT using Deferred discount? Seems to be all over the place at the moment.

My experience: First year with nPower, just reaching end of deal, but I will only receive Deferred Discount of £100 a couple of months later (after being on "Go Save" for a bit by the looks of it) :eek:
Feeling stupid as didn't notice the £100 was at end and wasn't even timed with end-of-deal, nor did I know about the way they seasonally adjust the first unit-rates for Gas which seems a con too.

So, do I stick with nPower for 2/3 months until I see my £100 and then switch, given that I will lose out on Electric costs in the meantime, or do object to the price rise proposed for GoSave and hope the transfer to some one else takes long enough that I see my £100? Any wisdom gratefully received!

Its my fault for not reading the small print, but comparison sites make it look much simpler than it really is, I'd go so far as calling it dishonest.

Thanks for reading.

jalexa

enakn wrote: »

Does anyone know which companies are NOT using Deferred discount?

So, do I stick with nPower for 2/3 months until I see my £100 and then switch,

Well done for spotting the "gotcha" before it was too late. Almost certainly you will be better sticking until you have earned the "deferred discount":eek:. And its slightly worse than you may think, month by month you have been credited with the discount but if you switch before it is earned it will be clawed back in the final bill.

There is not a simple answer to your first question as technically "deferred discount":eek:is a tariff issue not a supplier issue, however "typically" current tariffs from NPower and First Utility feature "deferred discount":eek: and "typically" current tariffs from Edf and Scottish Power don't.

There is really no alternative to comparing on a Consumer Focus accredited comparison website and going down the listed tariffs until you come to one which doesn't feature "deferred discount":eek: in the small print.

Be aware that tariffs towards the top of the comparison are generally there by virtue of one or more "gotchas" designed to achieve a listing towards the top of the comparison.

SnowMan

Personally I would like to see deferred discounts banned.

It is very much a ploy by Npower to get them high in the comparison table, but only if you switch exactly after 12 months do you get the full benefit of the direct debit discount and hence the comparison site cost as shown. So they are making a deliberate and sneaky profit from customers who don't obviously all switch after exactly 12 or 24 months etc.

As I understand it the qualification for the direct debit discount (as opposed to when it physically shows up on a statement) is exactly 12 months after your supply is taken over (assuming you opt for direct debit from outset). See this npower page.

In my case I switched to Npower go fix 8 tarriff recently and my supply switched over on 18th January for electricity and 24th January for gas. So I am assuming my eligibility for the discount is 24th January 2013. The tarriff itself ends on 3rd February 2013.

So the aim is to switch again as soon after 3rd February 2013 as possible (actually implementing the transfer in January 2013 hoping the physical switch occurs after 3rd February) and I won't lose out too much for the period from 24th January 2013 to when I switch when I am accruing no discount.

But it shouldn't be necessary to have to try and finesse the dates as I have done in order to get the comparison site costs.

The other con relating to the direct debit discount is for npower variable rate tarriffs where they can arbitrarily increase unit prices after say 6 months and if someone switches to another company because of this they lose the direct debit discount. So it is a way around the rules that you can't charge an exit penalty when increasing variable tarriff rates arbitrarily. I mentioned this to Consumer Focus a while back and they said npower are allowed to do this. Perhaps the Consumer Focus rep could clarify if they have any plans to deal with this potential abuse.