Switchover Shocker

mr2jay

Hey Guys, need a bit of advice here after a shock letter through the post.

We moved into our house in October last year where we took readings with the Landlord on the date we moved in and transferred the NPower account over to ourselves. We were given a combined DD every month of £97 which, to be fair, sounded about right.

So, dutifully, we have paid that every month without fail.

About a month ago, we decided to shop about with our energy provider and found the E.On would be able to reduce our bill to about £82 a month. Happy days

Been through all of the process and had the first DD taken from the account by E.On this month.

This morning we have had a letter arrive from NPower stating our final bill to settle is £408.78!!!!

How is this possible? By rights, that would mean that our DD with NPower should have been over £155 a month, an extra £58 per month or 62% higher than what we were charged!!!

How can I politely tell them to place it in the territory Pluto rules?

notbritishgas

Well a few things to say.
When you switched to EoN you gave them meter readings, yes?
Does the final bill from npower have these same readings as the end readings?

Also the DD scheme is intended to smooth out the payments over the year, that is in summer you pay more per month than you actually use and in winter the opposite. As you joined them in October your payments most likely did not cover your usage hence you have built up a debit balance which normally would have been cleared during the summer but is now included in the final bill.

Also if you were on a no standing charge tariff Npower charge more primary units during the winter period making the bill even larger.

So possibly the final bill is correct.

jalexa

mr2jay wrote: »

This morning we have had a letter arrive from NPower stating our final bill to settle is £408.78!!!!

How is this possible? By rights, that would mean that our DD with NPower should have been over £155 a month, an extra £58 per month or 62% higher than what we were charged!!!

How can I politely tell them to place it in the territory Pluto rules?

Probably you can't.

But first you need to check that the NPower closing readings are *exactly* the same as the E.ON opening readings that presumably you passed to E.ON.

That being the case there are three possible reasons why your NPower closing bill is higher than you expected.

1. A 6 month bill over the winter period uses over 75% of heating fuel annual consumption so cannot be judged on monthly payments.

2. A NPower winter period "no standing charge" tariff may be subject to seasonal allocation of expensive primary rate units.

3. You forfeited the annual "deferred discount":eek: by switching before you earned it and already credited discount was clawed back in the final bill.


All of these issues are well known to forum regulars. Sorry.

mr2jay

So, effectively, what is being said here is that changing energy provider can seriously affect your bank balance? That is certainly NOT something said when you switch.

I am in complete shock over this, especially as we had the heating on for about 4 weeks maximum over the winter (we both grew up in country cottages in the South West so don't do heating very well, we prefer it cold). I forgot to mention that this final bill is for the gas componant of the bill. We only have a combi boiler (hot water and heating) on the gas, the rest is electric.

I don't actually know the tariff we were on as we just inherited what it was on prior to us moving in. I can find out though.

Yes, we did take readings to give to E.On and the numbers tally up. Luckily I have the initial readings taken when we moved in still so I can do my own calculations.

To say I am disgusted is an understatement and a bill this size is something we are going to find VERY difficult to clear.

Premier_2

mr2jay wrote: »

So, effectively, what is being said here is that changing energy provider can seriously affect your bank balance? That is certainly NOT something said when you switch.

I am in complete shock over this, especially as we had the heating on for about 4 weeks maximum over the winter (we both grew up in country cottages in the South West so don't do heating very well, we prefer it cold). I forgot to mention that this final bill is for the gas componant of the bill. We only have a combi boiler (hot water and heating) on the gas, the rest is electric.

I don't actually know the tariff we were on as we just inherited what it was on prior to us moving in. I can find out though.

Yes, we did take readings to give to E.On and the numbers tally up. Luckily I have the initial readings taken when we moved in still so I can do my own calculations.

To say I am disgusted is an understatement and a bill this size is something we are going to find VERY difficult to clear.

On the contrary.

If you used the actual annual usage in kWh as advised (you did, didn't you?) when consulting the comparison sites then you are only going to be charged about £82 per month rather than the £155 per month it was costing you with the previous supplier & tariff.

A heck of a saving if that's true. :T

But I suspect you didn't follow the advice and have not used actual annual kWh when doing the comparison so I have no idea what you will currently be charged or indeed if you are even on the best deal for you.

I suggest you recheck. Even paying an early termination fee (if one applies) may be worthwhile if you now find a better deal if you use the comparison sites as we advise.

Don't forget possible cashback that may help fund any early termination fee

jalexa

Premier wrote: »

On the contrary.

If you used the actual annual usage in kWh as advised (you did, didn't you?) when consulting the comparison sites then you are only going to be charged about £82 per month rather than the £155 per month it was costing you with the previous supplier & tariff.

Where does the OP give weight to a £155 per month cost with the previous supplier & tariff?

lithopsian

*sigh* Where to begin .... Pay your bills! If you want to use masses of gas in winter but only pay for part of it, then make up the difference in summer, so be it. Just don't assume you can walk away at the end of the winter without making up the difference.

As for your money-saving switch, who knows whether you're saving money or not. We certainly don't have sufficient information to know and I suspect you don't either. You've made the classic mistake of thinking your direct debit payment is in any way related to what you actually owe the energy company. That £97 may have turned out to be too high over a whole year and the £82 will very likely turn out to be too low, so you could easily have switched yourself on to a more expensive tariff. nPower are notoriously cheap in the summer and they would likely have been knocking over a hundred quid off your twelfth bill.

Premier_2

jalexa wrote: »

Where does the OP give weight to a £155 per month cost with the previous supplier & tariff?

Here

mr2jay wrote: »

Hey Guys, need a bit of advice here after a shock letter through the post.

We moved into our house in October last year where we took readings with the Landlord on the date we moved in and transferred the NPower account over to ourselves. We were given a combined DD every month of £97 which, to be fair, sounded about right.

So, dutifully, we have paid that every month without fail.

About a month ago, we decided to shop about with our energy provider and found the E.On would be able to reduce our bill to about £82 a month. Happy days

Been through all of the process and had the first DD taken from the account by E.On this month.

This morning we have had a letter arrive from NPower stating our final bill to settle is £408.78!!!!

How is this possible? By rights, that would mean that our DD with NPower should have been over £155 a month, an extra £58 per month or 62% higher than what we were charged!!!

How can I politely tell them to place it in the territory Pluto rules?

and here

mr2jay wrote: »

So, effectively, what is being said here is that changing energy provider can seriously affect your bank balance? That is certainly NOT something said when you switch.

I am in complete shock over this, especially as we had the heating on for about 4 weeks maximum over the winter (we both grew up in country cottages in the South West so don't do heating very well, we prefer it cold). I forgot to mention that this final bill is for the gas componant of the bill. We only have a combi boiler (hot water and heating) on the gas, the rest is electric.

I don't actually know the tariff we were on as we just inherited what it was on prior to us moving in. I can find out though.

Yes, we did take readings to give to E.On and the numbers tally up. Luckily I have the initial readings taken when we moved in still so I can do my own calculations.

To say I am disgusted is an understatement and a bill this size is something we are going to find VERY difficult to clear.

mr2jay

I believe my OH may well have fallen foul of the typical sales banter

OK, so I accept that I will have to pay this bill - not happy about it but that it life

What amazes me is the amount of gas used. I went home at lunch to check through this final bill and nearly fell over at the gas usage. To give you an idea, we only have a combi boiler on the gas, running hot water and heating. We were both brought up in country cottages that do not have heating so it was possibly on the minimum setting for a maximum of 5 weeks over the winter when we had that particularily cold snap to take off the chill, nothing more.

We shower rather than bathe, use a dishwasher linked to the cold water rather than use the sink so even our hot water requirements are small....

I think I may need to get the landlord in as if the boiler is wasting THAT much gas, then we have a serious problem.

Regarding the saving, I wasn't privvy to the conversation regarding the switch over so do not know the ins and outs. My OH was just told that the monthly DD would be about £10 a month less thus creating a saving for us.

Premier_2

mr2jay wrote: »

I believe my OH may well have fallen foul of the typical sales banter

OK, so I accept that I will have to pay this bill - not happy about it but that it life

What amazes me is the amount of gas used. I went home at lunch to check through this final bill and nearly fell over at the gas usage. To give you an idea, we only have a combi boiler on the gas, running hot water and heating. We were both brought up in country cottages that do not have heating so it was possibly on the minimum setting for a maximum of 5 weeks over the winter when we had that particularily cold snap to take off the chill, nothing more.

We shower rather than bathe, use a dishwasher linked to the cold water rather than use the sink so even our hot water requirements are small....

I think I may need to get the landlord in as if the boiler is wasting THAT much gas, then we have a serious problem.

Regarding the saving, I wasn't privvy to the conversation regarding the switch over so do not know the ins and outs. My OH was just told that the monthly DD would be about £10 a month less thus creating a saving for us.

I suggest you follow the advice I gave earlier and find out the reality of the situation by using the comparison sites

jalexa

mr2jay wrote: »

What amazes me is the amount of gas used. I went home at lunch to check through this final bill and nearly fell over at the gas usage.

You would get a much more sympathetic and helpful hearing hearing here if you posted meter readings rather than £££s. It is unlikely (but not impossible) for a bill to be incorrectly calculated.