npower

natalie72

i am with npower and they put me on an fix price plan for 18 months. they told me my direct debit will be just over £50 per month for the duration of the 18 months. i am 6 months off of going out of date and they had sent me 2 letters both sent the same day one saying i owed them over £500 and another saying the owed me over £350. So when i asked them what was going on they told me to disregard the letter saying they owed me and i had to pay the £500. which will take my monthly dd up to over £90 a month. i had regular meter readings. but after the last meter reading they kept sending me letters saying that they were having problems doing my bill. i also said that £90 a month is not what i had been sold and told them they had no choice but to keep to the agreement that was sold to me. did threaten them that i was in the process of contacting martin lewis and i did feel them squirm a bit. what can i do as i a single mum on a low income. yes i do work. but have not budget the price hike

notbritishgas

natalie72 wrote: »

i am with npower and they put me on an fix price plan for 18 months. they told me my direct debit will be just over £50 per month for the duration of the 18 months. i am 6 months off of going out of date and they had sent me 2 letters both sent the same day one saying i owed them over £500 and another saying the owed me over £350. So when i asked them what was going on they told me to disregard the letter saying they owed me and i had to pay the £500. which will take my monthly dd up to over £90 a month. i had regular meter readings. but after the last meter reading they kept sending me letters saying that they were having problems doing my bill. i also said that £90 a month is not what i had been sold and told them they had no choice but to keep to the agreement that was sold to me. did threaten them that i was in the process of contacting martin lewis and i did feel them squirm a bit. what can i do as i a single mum on a low income. yes i do work. but have not budget the price hike

I am afraid they would not have said that. A fixed price plan is not "use as much gas as you like for £50", if only that was true!
No, it means the price per kwh is fixed, if you use more gas and the £50 does not cover the cost then you owe them money.

macman

It's the unit price that is fixed, not the total bill! Use more, you pay more.

victor2

Exactly as above.
It's an old trick for a supplier to suck you in to a new contract with a direct debit amount of less than you are currently paying. However, if you then look at your usage, you will realise you are not paying enough to cover it, so they increase the amount.
If you are 12 months into the contract you should be able to work out what you have used in kWh and what the cost of that will be on the fixed tariff you are on. Divide that by 12 and you'll see what you should have been paying each month. Unfortunately, you now have the debit balance to cover as well as your actual usage.