Npower price hike and debit statement

Lattelover

I have a dual fuel account with Npower, this time last year I was paying £35 per month on a direct debit,.
A few months ago this was increased to £75pm and yesterday I received a letter stating that I have accrued a debit of £328 over the winter months
They have offered me have two choices; pay off the debit within 10 days and reduce my monthly DD to £57
or the DD will increase to £123, which would mean the DD has almost quadrupled in the space of a year.
I am not happy about this but I'm unsure what my options are.

Any advice would be most welcome

ps the bill is based on actual readings unfortunately, but it just seems ridiculous I only have a small two bed terrace house and my brother has a four bed detached house and only spends £115pm

Wywth

Lattelover wrote: »

I have a dual fuel account with Npower, this time last year I was paying £35 per month on a direct debit,.
A few months ago this was increased to £75pm and yesterday I received a letter stating that I have accrued a debit of £328 over the winter months
They have offered me have two choices; pay off the debit within 10 days and reduce my monthly DD to £57
or the DD will increase to £123, which would mean the DD has almost quadrupled in the space of a year.
I am not happy about this but I'm unsure what my options are.

Any advice would be most welcome

ps the bill is based on actual readings unfortunately, but it just seems ridiculous I only have a small two bed terrace house and my brother has a four bed detached house and only spends £115pm

Check you are on the best tariff(s) for your consumption
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

Consider ways of cutting down your consumption.

nPower

Lattelover wrote: »

I have a dual fuel account with Npower, this time last year I was paying £35 per month on a direct debit,.
A few months ago this was increased to £75pm and yesterday I received a letter stating that I have accrued a debit of £328 over the winter months
They have offered me have two choices; pay off the debit within 10 days and reduce my monthly DD to £57
or the DD will increase to £123, which would mean the DD has almost quadrupled in the space of a year.
I am not happy about this but I'm unsure what my options are.

Any advice would be most welcome

ps the bill is based on actual readings unfortunately, but it just seems ridiculous I only have a small two bed terrace house and my brother has a four bed detached house and only spends £115pm

Hi Lattelover,

The direct debit will only increase this much to re-coop the debt that has built up on the account.

It may be worth you speaking to our energy efficiency team, who will talk to you about your energy use and give you some ways to reduce this.

You can call them for free on 0800 02 22 20 or 0330 100 8620 from a mobile.

Kind regards,

Adam

MillicentBystander

regularly checking your meter (and supplying regular meter reads to your supplier) is the best way to avoid this sort of happening. It's a 2 pronged attack - the reading may cause you to cut down on your consumption and supplying the reading to npower causes them to recalculate your DD much sooner, thereby reducing the chances of getting a large catch up bill like the OP has just received.