npower - low introductory direct debit amount

jrd.davey

Hi,
Does anyone have any experience of Npower offering low monthly direct debit payments to attract new customers? I feel that this may have happened to me.....

I was previously with EDF. In my search for a cheaper energy provider I spoke to npower and gave them all the information they asked for regarding my yearly energy usage (gas and electricity). The sales person said that they could use that information to find the best possible tarrif for me which would hopefully reduce my monthly direct debit payments but still cover the expected usage. After a quick search they were able to offer me a slightly better deal (about £60 per month for a small 2 bed terraced house) than EDF so I went ahead with the change.
Half way throught the first year with Npower they said that my usage has been reassessed and that my monthly payment would need to change to £90 to cover the bills. Now after 1 year with them they say that I need to increase the monthly payments to around £125 to ensure I am not in debt. Regular (not monthly but at least 4 a year) meter readings have been submitted to them so that they could make these calculations.
An increase in my monthly payment of over 100% seems totally ridiculous to me! I would be willing to accept a slight increase in usage and also in price but most definitely not a combination of the two resulting in such a dramatic increase in cost.
To me it feels that Npower has taken advantage of someone looking for a cheaper option and knowingly enticed me with a low direct debit payment.
How many of you out there look into the per unit cost of electricity and gas? Surely most of you are more worried about the monthly direct debit payment and being sure that it covers the usage you expect? This is my primary focus. I took advice from Npower trusting them to tell me what the best deal was but also to ensure that my usage was covered by sufficient payments.
Any thoughts on this or anyone experience a similar series of events? If so, get in touch.
Any advice you may have in resolving this would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
James

matelodave

You should do your own sums. Work out how much leccy or gas you are going to use in kwh, multiply that by the unit rate, add on the standing charges and that should be roughly what your bill should be. You then divide it by 12 and that's what your standing order should work out to. At the end of the year you should be slightly in credit (if your estimate was correct) as you should get a bit of a discount for paying monthly.
You are the one that should take charge and tell them what you are going to use and then monitor it yourself to make sure that the bills & direct debits are correct. Don't let them do the guessing.


I've got a monthly record of my leccy (we don't have gas) going back over nearly four years so I know how much I should use every month (within a couple of hundred units - depending on the weather). I do my own calculations and tell the supplier what I'm going to use and expect my DD to correspond - so far it has.

scaredofdebt

Have they said they need to increase the DD over the phone or is it from a bill/statement? If it's the latter then it is quite likely to be incorrect, so ring and find out.

Cardew

To me it feels that Npower has taken advantage of someone looking for a cheaper option and knowingly enticed me with a low direct debit payment.

All the call centre staff, in all the companies, are on commission; so it is almost 'standard practice' for all the utility companies to set an initially low DD to lure customers.

If you don't give them accurate consumption figures in kWh for the year ahead(and how could you?) you give them license to 'estimate' your annual spend and hence set the DD; and they are hardly likely to lose a customer(and their commission) by setting it too high.

The only way, to see if a tariff is cheaper, is to enter your annual kWh consumption into a comparison website and look at the annual cost.

James01

I think that the best way to compare prices between suppliers is to look at the unit price that each company charges for gas and electric, for the tariff that you are interested in. I never take any notice of all the 'this deal will save you ££££' that you read on comparison sites. Do your own homework before you jump into a new deal.


If you are on the cheapest tariff with your current supplier you are probably not going to be much better off switching. If there was one cheaper than the rest we'd all be with them.


Also, I don't believe that switching is easy and hassle free, there's always chasing up to do, payments to sort, direct debit problems to solve, etc.

scaredofdebt

Cardew wrote: »

All the call centre staff, in all the companies, are on commission; so it is almost 'standard practice' for all the utility companies to set an initially low DD to lure customers.

If you don't give them accurate consumption figures in kWh for the year ahead(and how could you?) you give them license to 'estimate' your annual spend and hence set the DD; and they are hardly likely to lose a customer(and their commission) by setting it too high.

The only way, to see if a tariff is cheaper, is to enter your annual kWh consumption into a comparison website and look at the annual cost.

Or you could work it out yourself using last year's consumption figures, it's not rocket science.

Cardew

James01 wrote: »

I think that the best way to compare prices between suppliers is to look at the unit price that each company charges for gas and electric, for the tariff that you are interested in.

The problem these days is that it is not just the unit price that you have to consider, but the Daily Standing Charge(DSC) and what discounts are being offered; or indeed get gas and electricity from different suppliers.


Unless you use a comparison website, even if you know your consumption in kWh, it is an extremely log-winded procedure to find out the cheapest tariff(s) from all on offer with the various companies.


However the point being made to the OP is that phoning a Utility company and giving them your monthly DD payment is not recommended!

Nada666

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Or you could work it out yourself using last year's consumption figures, it's not rocket science.

Yes to work out the one or two you have an eye on or have been snake-oiled with is straight-forward.

But the initial search for likely candidates is not any simpler and still requires an on-line service.

ska_lover

Yes OP, we were given a cost of £30 a month, but in the two years we have been with them, our DD payments varied (without notice) from £5 a month up to £145 a month, until they completely stopped taking payments 4 months back.

They cannot seem to sort themselves out and reinstate something as simple as a DD. Their customer service is completely !!!! and really not worth the hassle, I would suggest that you switch immediately to save yourself the stress as they will NEVER sort it out. you can ring and ring every day for the next month and it wont make an iota of difference

nPower

jrd.davey wrote: »

Hi,
Does anyone have any experience of Npower offering low monthly direct debit payments to attract new customers? I feel that this may have happened to me.....

I was previously with EDF. In my search for a cheaper energy provider I spoke to npower and gave them all the information they asked for regarding my yearly energy usage (gas and electricity). The sales person said that they could use that information to find the best possible tarrif for me which would hopefully reduce my monthly direct debit payments but still cover the expected usage. After a quick search they were able to offer me a slightly better deal (about £60 per month for a small 2 bed terraced house) than EDF so I went ahead with the change.
Half way throught the first year with Npower they said that my usage has been reassessed and that my monthly payment would need to change to £90 to cover the bills. Now after 1 year with them they say that I need to increase the monthly payments to around £125 to ensure I am not in debt. Regular (not monthly but at least 4 a year) meter readings have been submitted to them so that they could make these calculations.
An increase in my monthly payment of over 100% seems totally ridiculous to me! I would be willing to accept a slight increase in usage and also in price but most definitely not a combination of the two resulting in such a dramatic increase in cost.
To me it feels that Npower has taken advantage of someone looking for a cheaper option and knowingly enticed me with a low direct debit payment.
How many of you out there look into the per unit cost of electricity and gas? Surely most of you are more worried about the monthly direct debit payment and being sure that it covers the usage you expect? This is my primary focus. I took advice from Npower trusting them to tell me what the best deal was but also to ensure that my usage was covered by sufficient payments.
Any thoughts on this or anyone experience a similar series of events? If so, get in touch.
Any advice you may have in resolving this would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
James

Hello jrd.davey

Thank you for you post.

This would not have been intentional and would have been the price worked out on your usage your provided. Over the year your payments may change if summers are hotter and winters colder.

I can however take a look at your account and payments for you as if you have been reassessed via the system it will be slightly higher than what your predicted usage is to cover for any over usage in the winter.

If you would like me to take a look, please send your details to the address on my profile page.

Thanks

Carmel