npower...the great utilities swindle?

sbcurran

Hello All

Looking for advice on what I feel is unfair pricing by npower.

Every gas bill I receive has an estimated reading so I have previously called with the actual reading which is always more than their estimated.

My current bill as an example:

513KWh at 4.265p per kWh (9 Dec 06 to 5 Jan 07)
733KWh at 2.399p per kWh (9 Dec 06 to 5 Jan 07)
1207KWh at 4.265p per kWh (5 Jan 07 to 3 Mar 07)
1242KWh at 2.399p per kWh (5 Jan 07 to 3 Mar 07)

If it's a quarterly bill why are the rates split as such. My concern is that I'm being charged for more at the higher rate then I should be, especially when I give the actual reading which is not lumped into the quarter in question.

Any advice...am I being thick or what???

Thanks
Sean

Gal

The easiest way to work this out is your annual threshold with npower at the higher rate is 4572kWh.

If you divide 4572kWh by 365 it will give you a daily rate which is roughly 12.5kWh units per day.

Times the 12.5 by the days in your quarter so based on your dates this will be 726kWh which means that if your dates are correct and the thresholds are the same then Npower have overcharged you by 480kWh.

This is all dependant on your annual threshold though

notbritishgas

Hi Sean, I think the reason your bill has been split like it has is because you gave them an actual reading on 5 Jan. you will notice the rates are the same before and after 5 Jan.
Also it has been raised before on this forum that npower does not apply the number of kwh at the higher rate evenly throughout the year, some quarters you get more at higher rate and some you get less but after the full year it balances out at 4572.
Looking at your rates you must be on SoL 4, lets hope npower reduce those in their proposed Apr 30 reductions.

Cardew

Gal wrote: »

The easiest way to work this out is your annual threshold with npower at the higher rate is 4572kWh.

If you divide 4572kWh by 365 it will give you a daily rate which is roughly 12.5kWh units per day.

Times the 12.5 by the days in your quarter so based on your dates this will be 726kWh which means that if your dates are correct and the thresholds are the same then Npower have overcharged you by 480kWh.

This is all dependant on your annual threshold though

Gal,
I believe that system(Annual Tier 1 allowance divided by 365) works for Powergen, BG and others.
However NPower and a couple of others have a non-linear tier1 allowance so you are charged for more units(kWh) at tier1 rates in the winter than summer.

There was a thread about this some while ago.

EDIT - I should have read the post above first before replying!!