Npower Online Price Fix February 2015

tronator

dogshome wrote: »

Well done for drilling down into the detail of n'powers Honey trap, but it's actually worse than that

n'power have a 6 monthly billing cycle on most of their tariffs - You join in July 12 and end your 12 months in June 2013, but you won't see the Cash-Back credit reflected until the following bill 6 months later, by which time you will have contributed for a further 5 months towards the next cash-back

Sorry to resurrect this "old" thread", but what's the problem with paying the rebate with the next bill? The deadline for the rebate will always be the June of each year to stay with your example.

Other companies have other tricks up their sleeve, like advertising their tariffs "with no daily standing charge", but have a higher price for the first xx kWh, which is in effect the same than a daily standing charge.

I'm a happy customer of nPower for many years, but the "news" I read today, that they axed this tariff in early August, leaves a bitter aftertaste behind. I called them a few days before this day to switch to the February 2015 tariff, because my old tariff was about to end at the end of August. The lady from customer support told me, that it was quite early and I still have a whole month to decide. She thinks that there will be better tariffs available by then. Now I think she already knew about the axing of that tariff a few days later and got order from the management to pursue people to wait a few more days. Very sneaky...

Luckily I said thank you, but went ahead on that day and I'm on this tariff now.

davidgmmafan

"Sorry to resurrect this "old" thread", but what's the problem with paying the rebate with the next bill? The deadline for the rebate will always be the June of each year to stay with your example."

The problem is the system can and does reassess the payment without the discount which can lead to your payments being hugely hiked. When you ring depending who you get they may dig their heels in or agree it is absurd.

Sometimes it bills after one month and does a reassessment, which is fun...

Personally I think they should bill three monthly even if the reassessments stayed six monthly as customers would see the debit or credit and how it varies over time.

As it is people call in month 5 saying wow I'm £500 in credit, I'd best have that back...

tronator

davidgmmafan wrote: »

The problem is the system can and does reassess the payment without the discount which can lead to your payments being hugely hiked.

You exaggerate here, the "hike" can only be a 12th of the yearly rebate per month. And what other than your real consumption should they base your monthly dd on? They don't know yet whether you stay for a further year with them. The calculation is quite simple. They take the kWh you used over the last 12 month, apply the tariff to it, divide it by 12 and bob's you uncle. If they do something else, call them and get it adjusted.

The only thing you can hold against them is, that they earn interest on the money (the rebate) they owe you for a few month. But with the interest so low atm I wouldn't bother complaining...

davidgmmafan wrote: »

As it is people call in month 5 saying wow I'm £500 in credit, I'd best have that back...

If you're £500 in credit then the rebate is the smallest part of it and they made a mistake elsewhere...

Davegeo

Sorry to resurrect a year old thread, but I'm coming in at the end of my first year on this tariff (fixed Feb 2015) and am unsure as to how to expect the direct debit discount to be applied.
I've just been on the phone to NPower's customer services, who informed me that the discount is applied daily to the standing charge - however that doesn't sound right since the terms say it's only applied at the end of the year (so I was expecting a lump sum discount to be listed on the bill)
Can someone explain whether they're correct or whether they're making it up?

- Dave

tronator

Davegeo wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect a year old thread, but I'm coming in at the end of my first year on this tariff (fixed Feb 2015) and am unsure as to how to expect the direct debit discount to be applied.
I've just been on the phone to NPower's customer services, who informed me that the discount is applied daily to the standing charge - however that doesn't sound right since the terms say it's only applied at the end of the year (so I was expecting a lump sum discount to be listed on the bill)
Can someone explain whether they're correct or whether they're making it up?

- Dave

Unless it changed recently, this doesn't sound right. In the last few years it appeared on your bill as "Direct Debit discount" and will be added to your balance. Before that they used to send out cheques.

My last "Direct Debit discount" was on the bill in October last year, so I expect it to be on my next bill which is due in a few days.

tronator

I have to correct my last post. The information npower gave you was right. Now they apply the discount to the daily standing charge.

If you check your tariff you'll see that the daily standing charge is 37p, but on your bill it is 26.04p. The difference is the £40 spread over 365 days.

Davegeo

OK, so if that's the case, how does it fit with the following part of the T's and C's:

"The savings quoted include any discounts associated with this tariff. To qualify, you must take your supply from npower and pay by the same payment method for a full 12 month period – this period does not have to be a Jan-Dec calendar year. The discounts will be paid to you annually and will be credited to your account at the end of each full year that you remain with npower."

Are we saying then that they do not credit at the end of each full year, they are instead crediting throughout the year despite the T's and C's?

- Dave

tronator

Davegeo wrote: »

Are we saying then that they do not credit at the end of each full year, they are instead crediting throughout the year despite the T's and C's?

It looks like. But why do you care? You got your money, didn't you?

Davegeo

Absolutely right - I'm just trying to make sure that's the case is all. Looking at my bill it does look like you're right. They do like to make these things as unclear as possible though don't they?

- Dave

tronator

Davegeo wrote: »

Absolutely right - I'm just trying to make sure that's the case is all. Looking at my bill it does look like you're right. They do like to make these things as unclear as possible though don't they?

- Dave

What does your bill say what the daily standing charge is? If it's ~26p then it already includes the discount, if its 37p then not.