nPower 12mth DD discount - what is 12mth?

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

Hi alinwales,

Nada666 wrote:

... All that is required is that you are a customer for twelve months following the date the later fuel started ...

I agree that this summarises the situation: what should happen.

In my case, when I was last on the phone to npower (see Post #181 of the main thread about issues with npower's 'broken system').
I confirmed that I would be credited with £100 on 21 September 2013.

So, if I were to switch before 21 September 2013 I would not get
any of this £100. For each day after I would loose 27p of my
'next year's discount'. So it would be good to switch
a few days after (e.g. 10 days after I would loose
about £2.74 of 'unrecoverable discount').

So, IMHO better to switch a bit too late than too soon
(if you want to leave npower and maximise your DD discount).

However, as you noted from reading the thread I cited (above in Post #2 and again below) and as zerog has posted (in Post #11) things are not clear.

zerog wrote:

...
I have emailed them about this several times but each reply says something different. I have been struggling to get them to answer me in writing.
...

That is why I said:
"I advise you ask npower to confirm your date."


I added this, next,

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig wrote:

...

npower annual discount
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3947023

As you can see from this thread, I think the only safe assumption is to wait until you receive the credit. However, npower should tell you if you ask them. The other factor is the 'total switch time': this is not in the Consumer's control and some switches can be less than 4 weeks.

to illustrate that it is difficult to know.

The fact that npower's 'new system' has so many issues, in so many areas, does not fill me with confidence.

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

zerog

I agree, I think I shall just switch soon and if they don't give me the discount, we will see what the ombudsman has to say about it.

I have wasted a whole year of my life dealing with this useless company - well it was 4 other companies too and some other personal issues but .. in the future it's ebico and later EDF for sure even if EDF is more expensive

alinwales

OK, I have just gotten around to phoning Npower. They seemed to think my anniversary date is 5th May. However, the last utility to start was the 8th May. Regardless of this, the fix is due to end on 21st May, so have to wait until then anyways.
Anyway, under these circumstances I'm good to start a switch now, knowing I'll get my discount.

alinwales

Just signed to Swalec 2 year cap. It's not top of the comparison sites, but they do have a £100 rebate deal that isn't priced in - so it's not a bad deal.
The only unfortunate thing is that as it's low SC and high unit charge, it's more sensitive to changes in consumption... still it'll encourage the wife not to have the heating on all the time!

DragonQ

Sensitivity to changes in consumption is fairly important. When comparing, I usually check my average annual usage but also +/-10% from that to make sure I won't lose out if it changes a bit.