NPower: Unexpected massive increase in monthly paymnets

little_miss_muppet_face

neneromanova wrote: »

I'm currently in a 3 bed semi and we currently pay £86 a month. I suppose it just depends how frugal you are with heating and things.

Yeah v true.. We are not that frugal I guess .. And we have a 15 year old boiler..

hopperson

We had a new boiler fitted a few months ago (the old one just stopped working, we were without heating over much of the winter!).
Oh, and we also have three teenage kids!!!

hopperson

nPower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi hopperson,

I'm sorry to hear about this. Could I get you to check a couple of things?

Is your latest bill based on an 'actual' reading or an estimated one?
The increase in direct debit should be displayed on your bill, which is your notification of the increase to your payments.

If you'd like me to look into this more, please pop me an email (address is on my profile page) with your account details on and I can take a look.

Kind regards,

Adam

Sent an email to Adam Thursday last week (8th August) but had no response yet, not even an acknowledgement that he has received it... checked and it went to the right address... also emailed NPower on Friday but nothing back yet. Will phone them today...

Tina26

I have also had a problem with Npower and a hike in my monthly payments. Last year I moved from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom bungalow.
I was already with Npower and asked them to switch my account to the new bungalow. I arranged to pay £114 a month for my duel fuel and set up a direct debit. In June 2013 I checked my online banking and noticed that Npower had taken £341 from my account instead of the £114 as agreed. I was shocked as I had no notification of this increase.
I then found 2 weeks after the direct debit for £341 had gone from my account, that Npower had taken another small amount from my account. I was mortified as I had not agreed to this and did not have a direct debit set up for mid month. It appears that Npower can take money from my account as and when they feel like it.
I telephone Npower and a lovely lady from the customer service team tried to sort it out for me. I have now finally got the direct debit established at an affordable amount. But I was still puzzled about the mid month payment that Npower appear to be taking from my account.
The customer service woman contacted the direct debit team, who unfortunately were not able to give her a logical reason as to why they took the small amount of money from my account without my permission. I said I was not happy as this amounts to theft, that Npower did not have my permission to take the money, I did not have a direct debit set up for them to take it. She advised me to put in an official complaint and I am still presently waiting for someone to contact me.

LuSiVe

You can have a direct debit set up that allows the company to take variable amounts as and when they feel like it. Paypal set them up like this.

I would be most uncomfortable for a fuel one to be set up like this though ...

hopperson

Just come off the phone to NPower (emailed them last week, no response) and turns out the increase from £80/month to £314/month is to cover the outstanding balance on the account. We were paying a set amount of £80 when we were actually using alot more than that, but as they only review the account every six months so nothing was done from January until June.

After discussion they say they can only lower the monthly amount to £266/month. Unless we pay off the outstanding balance of £1,000... which is quite frankly impossible. I don't know where we're going to find the £266/month either...

I have been in touch with my bank [Santander] who have agreed an increase in my overdraft limit. The small annual bonus we got from work (around £350 net) which I was going to use for a birthday weekend away for me and my wife (its her 50th) has had to be cancelled so that we don't go overdrawn this month...

Really not impressed. I've tried applying for a loan before through the bank but been rejected due to my credit rating, I think.

I'm already paying £140 monthly for Barclaycard and £40 monthly on my Argos card...

Anyone any suggestions?

Tina26

LuSiVe wrote: »

You can have a direct debit set up that allows the company to take variable amounts as and when they feel like it. Paypal set them up like this.

I would be most uncomfortable for a fuel one to be set up like this though ...

I am sure the fuel company cannot set up a direct debit like this. In my opinion a direct debit is an agreement with the customer and the service provider. Both agree an amount and a date for that amount to be taken from their bank account. I am certain they cannot take money from the account mid month. In effect they are taking 2 payments from my account each month. One of these has been agreed by myself but the other one I was not aware of and would not have noticed had I not checked my online banking.

Tina26

hopperson wrote: »

Just come off the phone to NPower (emailed them last week, no response) and turns out the increase from £80/month to £314/month is to cover the outstanding balance on the account. We were paying a set amount of £80 when we were actually using alot more than that, but as they only review the account every six months so nothing was done from January until June.

After discussion they say they can only lower the monthly amount to £266/month. Unless we pay off the outstanding balance of £1,000... which is quite frankly impossible. I don't know where we're going to find the £266/month either...

I have been in touch with my bank [Santander] who have agreed an increase in my overdraft limit. The small annual bonus we got from work (around £350 net) which I was going to use for a birthday weekend away for me and my wife (its her 50th) has had to be cancelled so that we don't go overdrawn this month...

Really not impressed. I've tried applying for a loan before through the bank but been rejected due to my credit rating, I think.

I'm already paying £140 monthly for Barclaycard and £40 monthly on my Argos card...

Anyone any suggestions?

I would get in touch with all your creditors. Tell them you are experiencing financial difficulty and you are worried that you may fall behind with your payments. I would inform them that you are not trying to shirk your responsibilities but ask them if you could reduce your payments for 6 months. Agree a payment plan and stick to it. I have found that creditors are quite negotiable and that a satisfactory solution can be sought

SwanJon

hopperson
it sounds like they think you are using £266/month. While high, this is possible (see little miss muppet face above), and three teenagers won't help.
You don't say how often (if ever) you read your meters. If you don't, start doing it now - each month, and give it to npower. This will give them an idea of how much you are actually using. You can also use it to keep an eye on it and see where you can bring it down.
It might also help to work out which fuel is causing the debt (bets are on for gas due to the longer winter).

The balance - don't borrow money to pay this off - npower won't charge you interest. It looks like they are giving you 12-14 months to clear the debt at £50 a month.

Are you on the best npower tariff for you? If not change.
You may struggle to change supplier without having to pay off the debt over a shorter period of time.

You may not want to hear it, but the answer may be a prepayment meter. You can negotiate a weekly payment amount (e.g. if you got £5/wk it would take near 4 years to pay off), and it will also help you manage your usage.

Good luck.

mililly

M with n power my bills were 205 a month live in a four bed semi and now they have re assessed and ive underpaid yhe las 6months of gas and my dd is now 225 a month...im in the process of trying to find out why my gas and elec usage is so high comoared to the national average. Apart from that they are all going to rip us off with these ridiculous prices