Bill Hike from NPower - Advice needed

toanlbia40

Hi all - this is my first posting and I am really grateful for anyone's help or wisdom on a significant hike in my DD's to Npower.

I was on the Go Fix8 tariff, which ended on 3 Feb 2013. My DD was £65 per month for both Gas and Electric. I live alone in a two-bed mid terrace and work full time i.e. not what you call a high user.

Usage (going from actual reading dates)
Gas Dec12-June 13 419 in 6months
Elec Sept 12-June 13 2405 in 9 months

The balance on my statement, Dec 2012 was £34.08

I was moved onto the Go Save S tariff from 4 Feb. Stupidly I did not shop around for tariffs as I have done in the past. I have since come to realise that the standing charges for this tariff are huge.
Npower sent me a statement at the end of June indicating my account balance had gone from £34.08 to £526.70 and that my DD would now be £190, to clear the arrears, cover increased tariff charges and for the fact their meter readings were mainly from the winter so that their view of my usage was high.

I immediately called Npower on receipt of statement at the end of June. I have got the DD down to £100 and they have moved me onto their "best value" tariff now - "online price fix Feb 2015" where I can see the standing charge is lower.

I am about to make my first of the new £100 payments and I am going to give them a reading every month. (incidentally I have used 15 units of gas and 134 units of electricity in what I appreciate is a light use and unseasonally warm month) I shall be providing them with a reading every month from now on!

I am not convinced about the way my bill has jumped. I know energy prices have risen, but I have had a brand new boiler and my loft insulated during this period and not used any more heating than I would usually.

I really want to ask you lovely forum folk, for any advice on remaining on this tariff, if you know of any where the standing charges or "fixed deals" might be more appropriate. Also if there is any suggestions on how I might further investigate where the balance calculation has come from would be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,
Pam M

dogshome

I'm afraid that not getting pro-active when you had n'powers letter advising that your GoFix 8 tariff was ending was bad news, because as you had not replied to them they dumped you onto their expensive Standard tariff.

The useage figures you have posted are bit difficult - The Elec at 2405Kwh for 9 months is OK as adding 25% to make it up to a full year, (3,206 Kwh) won't be far from the actual as 1 meter Unit is 1 Kwh

The Gas however at 419 for Dec till June is more of a problem - There are two types of meter - The Imperial type, marked ft3 produces Appx.31.5 chargeable Kwh for each meter unit, whilst the Metric type marked m3 realises appx 11.2 chargeable Kwh - CHECK to see which yours is