npower changes

jimbo49

hi all. wanted some opinions please, if possible

just had a letter from npower over the annual bonus. in it i am told that the £10 annual dual fuel payment will cease and instead be taken off the gas standing charge. also told that the bonus amounts will be paid monthly instead of annually, as they have been for the time since i joined. my feeling is, coupled with what the boss is doing as far as moving things over to India (no disrespect intended to the people there, but it's going to be as big a disaster as every other industry that has tried the same move. no one able to understand the other, extra time spent on the phone, no resolution sorted out!), this change means that in the very near future, the bonus amounts will be removed. i know customers wont be happy and can change suppliers but that doesn't answer the question of 'why is he doing this?' is he near kicking out or moving on time and wants to do what he can to make out the company is making more profit so as to up his quitting bonus? it cant surely be for any efficiency improvement when you consider that just about every company that has tried this move ended up returning everything to be run from the UK again?
anyone know or has read anything to throw light on the subject? i am convinced that the customer, as usual, will bear the brunt of it simply because if it were going to be a 'good move', all the energy companies would be doing the same, as fast as possible!!

Nada666

I don't think there is much to complain about. The direct debit discount is similar to before but there is no longer any need to stay a complete twelve months - you receive every penny of it pro rata to how long you are a customer.

Removal of dual fuel discounts is a good thing - it means you are free to switch each fuel individually to whichever is the best tariff and supplier for you - that is very likely to be worth a lot more than £10 per year to 99% of customers.

melb01

The letter also refers to my £90 Direct Debit discount being ended. No problem with speading that over a year, BUT, what about this year? If you like, what about this year's accumulated discount?

I've been with npower for 4 months, so I think I'm losing about £40. However, if I'd been with power for 11 months, then it would be about £80.

Am I misreading this letter? Or are npower about to give a one-off credit?

Mel

macman

This dual fuel discount move is being forced on suppliers by Ofgem, it's not their choice.

jimbo49

as far as i was aware, npower were the only ones giving this discount. am i wrong on that? why would Ofgem want to force this move? if it was a way of attracting customers, why kill it? i can see the outcome being 'no bonus' for loyal customers at all, meaning npower actually being higher priced than the others and priced out of the game more easily. that doesn't make sense. i appreciate customers are free to move but the time taken is a couple of months or so. rather than doing something that yet again hits customers, Ofgem should be saying similar to what the water companies were told, ie, you are not increasing prices by that much. competition needs to be introduced, not a way whereby government allows a multi-company monopoly! all the price rises end up with the companies charging almost identical prices because they know they can. people moving from one to the other end up no better off. the savings are MAYBE for a couple of months and just a couple of pounds

Nada666

As far as I know legacy non-daily discounts will either be honoured at the anniversary date and shifted to daily discount then or will be shifted to a daily discount around now (or a few weeks ago) with the appropriate proportionate discount applied then. There was also a one-off £10 reduction to the standing charges for gas to replace and compensate for the removal of a dual fuel discount.

npower certainly have their problems but there has been no disadvantageous-to-customers change to the £105 annual discount.

jimbo49

npower certainly have their problems but there has been no disadvantageous-to-customers change to the £105 annual discount.[/QUOTE]

i think you have missed a word out. that is 'yet'. if there is no (dis)advantages to removing the annual discounts, why do so? it's the old adage 'if it aint broke, dont fix it!'
my gut still tells me there is gonna be more to this than we know atm. no company does anything unless it is going to be beneficial to it. there is certainly nothing done that is going to be beneficial to customers, that's for sure!

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

npower aren't "better" for having the £105 annual discount. They have prices broadly the same prices as the other companies.

If anything I'd prefer not to do it npower's way - the other companies apply the discount every quarter. As people often say on this forum "it's just earning interest for npower, not me".

Bark01

macman wrote: »

This dual fuel discount move is being forced on suppliers by Ofgem, it's not their choice.

No its not, all Ofgem have stated is that it needs to be split 50/50 when calculating a TCR. In theory you can still put it on a bill however you want. BG and Scottish power will still have DF discounts after the current round of price changes. Ofgem pricing structure changes have to be in place by December 31st and BG/SP would need to give 30 days notice to remove the discounts so couldn't do it in time.

Under RMR :
Payment type discounts must be built into either the standing charge or the unit rate (not both)
Dual fuel discounts must be a flat £’s value per year accrued daily
Online/Paperless discounts must be a flat £’s value per year accrued daily

All other discounts are gone, including things like no mains gas & prompt pay

If you signed up to a tariff pre 1st July 2013 then your safe, if you signed up after then you r product needs to be changed to be RMR compliant by year end.

Nada666

jimbo49 wrote: »

npower certainly have their problems but there has been no disadvantageous-to-customers change to the £105 annual discount.

i think you have missed a word out. that is 'yet'. if there is no (dis)advantages to removing the annual discounts, why do so? it's the old adage 'if it aint broke, dont fix it!'
my gut still tells me there is gonna be more to this than we know atm. no company does anything unless it is going to be beneficial to it. there is certainly nothing done that is going to be beneficial to customers, that's for sure!

I think you have missed bothering to read entire paragraphs.

Of course npower are going to increase prices and manipulate structures to maintain shareholder dividends and top level salaries and profits. None of that has anything to do with your inital post (re discounts (customer service alterations are separate).)

Last year for each complete year of service you received a £105 discount only for each complete twelvemonth - you received no discount for partial years. From now(but, of course, only for now,) you will receive ~£95 applied daily and have £10 cheaper standing charges.

I don't agree with many of Ofgem's reforms but can't see what you're getting at here.